WhatsApp privacy policy

• WhatsApp informed the Delhi High Court that they not compel users to opt for new privacy policy till data protection bill comes into force.
• The court is hearing the appeals of Facebook and its firm WhatsApp against the single-judge order refusing to stop the competition regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI)‘s order directing a probe into WhatsApp’s new privacy policy.

• Earlier Whatsapp has modified its privacy policy.
• Data from WhatsApp interactions with business accounts by users who have consented to the new privacy policy will be shared with Facebook.
• According to that, users of personal accounts would have to either accept the new privacy policy or risk having their services restricted, and eventually being told to leave the platform.

Whatsapp arguments:

• Signing up for the new policy does not mean that private data of the user would be shared with Facebook.
• It has accepted that the policy update would enable it to use some of the “business conversations” hosted with the social network for advertising.
• Messages on the platform are end-to-end encrypted and that neither WhatsApp nor Facebook can see the private messages on WhatsApp”s platform.

Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019:

• It is commonly referred to as the Privacy Bill.
• It intends to protect individual rights by regulating the collection, movement, and processing of data that is personal, or which can identify the individual.
• It is inspired from the recommendation of committee headed by retired Justice B N Srikrishna.

Provisions:

• Personal data can be processed only for specific, clear and lawful purpose.
• There must be mechanisms for age verification and parental consent when processing sensitive personal data of children.
• The Bill allows processing of data by fiduciaries only if consent is provided by the individual.
• All Social media intermediaries which have users above a notified threshold, and whose actions can impact electoral democracy or public order, have certain obligations, which include providing a voluntary user verification mechanism for users in India.

• The Bill sets up a Data Protection Authority.
• Sensitive personal data may be transferred outside India for processing if explicitly consented to by the individual, and subject to certain additional conditions.
• Such sensitive personal data should continue to be stored in India.
• The central government may direct data fiduciaries to provide it with non-personal data and anonymised personal data for better targeting of services.