How to protect data in era of less privacy and identity theft
Pavan Duggal has been quoted on the issue of Right To Privacy as under:-
“This lack of awareness about the ill-effects of compromising on privacy is leading to a number of issues like data theft and cyber fraud. “We have to realise that we should not trade our privacy for a few extra rupees,” says Pavan Duggal, a Supreme Court lawyer and cyber law expert. “Giving out information at stores and restaurants is like walking into an open-ended net. It must be completely avoided. Stores monetise your data and may also sharie that data with other parties. You are a product for them, after all, so why must you trade your data? It is a losing bargain!”
Another significant aspect of the times we live in is social media. People upload everything, from walking down the aisle to the colour of their bathroom tiles, just for a couple of ‘likes.’ “We are going through the Great Indian Vomiting Revolution,” Duggal says. “It is a condition where we share valuable information routinely and mindlessly. Indians are under immense risk because of their reckless digital activities. We have to realise that the law clearly states that if data is provided voluntarily, one cannot cry foul, so we have to be responsible with the data we give.” Read More
Why cases go unreported outdated laws and tedious search for justice
In this news report, Pavan Duggal has been quoted on the issue of privacy as under:-
“The Act is outdated. It was last amended in 2008... Since then, social media has exploded in the country. The ground reality of 2017 is vastly different,” said advocate Pavan Duggal, who specialises in cyber law.
In 2014, Duggal’s law firm conducted a survey which revealed that “for every 500 instances of cyber crime, only 50 were reported to police and of those 50, an FIR was filed only in one case”.
Under-reporting is de facto in India. The first cyber crime conviction was in 2003. From then until now, the number of convictions have been very low. In a country of a billion-plus people, it’s a discouraging number,” Duggal said. The reasons for this are plenty: “People don’t want unnecessary media publicity; the current process is very slow; and there is low confidence in the ability of the system,” he added.
Acts such as sexting and cyber bullying, which have been criminalised in other countries, are not as yet considered to be offences under Indian law,” she added. Until 2008, even child pornography was not an offence under the IT Act. When the Act was amended to include it, several offences were made bailable — which cyber law experts called a “historic blunder”. “Conviction rate goes down because it’s easy to delete incriminating evidence when out on bail,” Duggal explained.”Read More
Right to privacy: Doors now open for users to seek better data security infrastructure
In this news report, Cyberlaw Expert Pavan Duggal has been quoted on the issue of Right To Privacy as under:-
“Now that there is so much pressure on the government, I expect that very quickly the corporates will start adopting policies to protect consumer privacy. Consumers will now have an intrinsic expectation of privacy, and the government should now come up with parameters for private service providers as to what steps they need to take to protect privacy,” said Pavan Duggal, a lawyer specialising in cyber laws”. Read More
Right to privacy paves way for new data protection framework
In this news report, Pavan Duggal has been quoted on the issue of privacy and its fundamental status under the Constitution of India as under:-
“The common man did not have any concrete, statutory privacy law, because even the IT (information technology) Act of 2003 was silent on privacy laws. Now the Supreme Court judgement has made way for that because no police personnel can enter a person’s home and demand that laptops or mobiles be searched without a court order,” said Pavan Duggal, a cybercrime expert at the Supreme Court.
However, Duggal also pointed to the potential for misuse.
“This can be misused by people who are under investigation by law enforcement agencies that their right to privacy is being violated. However, the judgement also states that this will be balanced because it now focuses on the realities of the internet and the digital medium,” he added.
According to Duggal, the judgement is likely to have a positive impact on limiting the usage of biometric information collected by the government for Aadhaar.” Read More
In this article, Pavan Duggal shared his views on the issue of Right To Privacy as under:-
“The 24th of August 2017 is a red letter day in the history of Indian legal jurisprudence. For the first time in independent India, a nine-judge Bench of the Supreme Court has delivered an overarching and historic landmark decision on the right to privacy.” Read More
Right to privacy is great, but what happens to Aadhaar now?
“Pavan Duggal, a cyber law expert, has been quoted in The Wire, saying that privacy judgment would, in fact, impact the Aadhaar legislation, but those decisions need to be made by the court. Duggal said:
“[T]he question now would be whether the collection of data under Aadhaar from 2009 till 2016 without any legislative sanction – as no law was passed by the parliament – had actually violated people’s fundamental right to privacy and if so, what is to be done with that data base?
Aadhaar was walking on thin ice from 2009 till 2016 when the Aadhaar Act was passed with the presumption that Aadhaar would be voluntary. So it only talked about the security of the Central Identities Data Repository. Meanwhile, the government made Aadhaar mandatory and a lot of things started getting linked to it, such as income tax, companies, bank accounts. So a complete eco system started developing around Aadhaar and that was without cyber security. So the Act now needs to be amended.” Read More
SC Verdict Might Alter India’s Privacy Landscape, But Right to Privacy Won’t Be Absolute: Experts
“Pavan Duggal, a cyber law expert and advocate, said the judgment would also pave the way for privacy protection by the corporate sector. “The judgment is topical, connected to ground reality, aptly recognises the challenges the users face with respect to internet and has opened up the door by saying this is what the privacy right is as of today while acknowledging the fact that technology will keep on changing.”
Consumers can now sue the state
Describing it as “one of the most progressive judgments you have seen in independent India,” Duggal said: “In practical terms lot of things have changed between yesterday and today. Today, if I get a call on my mobile or a WhatsApp message from a state-owned bank which I think is violative of my privacy, I can sue that bank and the state. This I could not have done yesterday because this fundamental right has been guaranteed by the constitution against state and state action – which is not only the government but also any instrumentality of the government.”
Little impact on surveillance
On what the rights of a citizen are if his or her phone is put under surveillance, Duggal said: “That has not changed. The right to privacy is a fundamental right under Article 21 but it is not an absolute right. Article 21 says that no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except in accordance with the procedure established by law. So if there is a procedure by which your privacy can be curtailed, that is permissible even now, in accordance with the procedure established by law.”
This judgment, he said, also recognises the importance of informational privacy or privacy within an information. “It is opening the door for new technological developments that keep on happening. However, whatever the government wants to do now will have to somehow pass the threshold of the principles laid down by this judgment.”
Duggal also insisted that the judgment was in no way in conflict with the Right to Information Act as the Act covers right to public information and not private information.
Questions surrounding legality of Aadhaar data
On the issue of the impact of the SC ruling on the delivery of services through Aadhaar, Duggal said it will have a massive impact as “it recognises that every individual has a fundamental right to privacy. Once this is clear, the question now would be whether the collection of data under Aadhaar from 2009 till 2016 without any legislative sanction – as no law was passed by the parliament – had actually violated people’s fundamental right to privacy and if so, what is to be done with that data base?”
“Aadhaar was walking on thin ice from 2009 till 2016 when the Aadhaar Act was passed with the presumption that Aadhaar would be voluntary. So it only talked about the security of the Central Identities Data Repository. Meanwhile, the government made Aadhaar mandatory and a lot of things started getting linked to it, such as income tax, companies, bank accounts. So a complete eco system started developing around Aadhaar and that was without cyber security. So the Act now needs to be amended,” he added.” Read More
Back to square one in flawed Aadhaar ecosystem
In this news report, Pavan Duggal shared his views as under:-
“On Thursday, the Supreme Court came to the rescue, ruling that privacy is a fundamental right, protected as an intrinsic part of right to life and personal liberty and as part of freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. In effect, “the judgment has put the ball in the government’s court to come up with a privacy law,” says cyber law expert Pavan Duggal. The SC judgment impacts state actions on collecting any biometric data and using the same to offer services or linking to multiple other services, like PAN, driving licence, pensions and so on, like in the case of Aadhaar.
Duggal points out that the SC judgment is monumental and recognises privacy as a fundamental right. “From 2009 to 2016 (almost 1 billion people were enrolled in these seven years), information was being collected based on an executive order. The Aadhaar Act was passed on the presumption that it is voluntary but later its use was being made mandatory. An ecosystem started developing around Aadhaar,” said Duggal.
That ecosystem “is flawed as it does not address cybersecurity, privacy and security of data issues. Government will have to amend the Aadhaar Act,” added Duggal.” Read More
Pavan Duggal, a leading cyber law expert, shared his insights with FE Online:-
“This is a historic, landmark judgment by the Supreme Court in its entire history. This is a progressive judgment, which has taken note of the current ground realities, the technological advances that are pertinent to Information Privacy. Across the board, this judgment affects every Indian and even non-Indians who live here.”
So, what about the legal status of the Aadhaar card?
“This will have a massive impact on Aadhaar-based litigation. People should also understand that a separate Bench of the court will examine the Aadhar issue. This verdict examines the constitutional status of the right to privacy and strengthens the ordinary Indian’s privacy from being invaded. Government cannot be arbitrary and this verdict has paved the way for growth of jurisprudence on privacy rights in India,” Mr. Pavan Duggal told FE Online.
Summing up, Mr. Pavan Duggal explains, “The right to privacy is now a fundamental right which applies to every Indian’s privacy in the actual world and the virtual world. This fundamental right now gives protection to all Indians but it is not an absolute right, as there can be reasonable restrictions for which the government has to establish a procedure. Any state or its instrumentality cannot infringe on the right to privacy. The verdict has ushered in a new era of privacy practice in India. Privacy, as a fundamental right, will get more premium than it did yesterday. This is a giant leap forward – no other Supreme Court judgment has pushed the envelope like this on privacy jurisprudence and no one will ever be able to treat privacy as an inferior right in India.” Read More
SC ruling has no direct impact on whatsapp facebook expert
Cyberlaw Expert Pavan Duggal has been quoted as under:-
"The reason for this is Facebook and WhatsApp are private entities. These private entities don't get covered under the ambit of fundamental rights as they are enforced under Part 3 of the Indian constitution and they are only enforceable to state action," Pavan Duggal, a Supreme Court advocate and cyber law expert, told IANS.
That effectively means if the state violates the fundamental rights, you can challenge them in a court of law. A private person is not an instrumentality of the state," Duggal said. According to him, the ramifications of this judgment on the digital and mobile eco-system will be "fascinating" to examine. "Because in physical world, privacy is a well understood concept but privacy in the digital world is not defined," he said, adding that the government has to quickly wake up to the reality of the connection between privacy and cybersecurity.”Read More
Cyber expert Pavan Duggal expressed his views on issue of privacy as under:-
“Legal experts expect a spurt in privacy-related litigation following the Supreme Court (SC) verdict. “Every government action could now be challenged in a court, if it is seen as violating a person’s privacy,” says cyber law expert and SC advocate Pavan Duggal.
For instance, if a person gets a call on his/her mobile or a WhatsApp message from a state-owned entity, which is seen as violative of a person’s privacy, the government arm and the state could both be taken to court. “This could not have been done earlier, as the fundamental right to privacy had not been guaranteed under the Constitution,” says Duggal.”Read More
In this news report, Pavan Duggal has been quoted as under:-
"The reason for this is Facebook and WhatsApp are private entities. These private entities don`t get covered under the ambit of fundamental rights as they are enforced under Part 3 of the Indian constitution and they are only enforceable to state action," Pavan Duggal, a Supreme Court advocate and cyber law expert, told IANS.”Read More
SC privacy judgment has no direct impact on WhatsApp, Facebook, says expert
“The Supreme Court’s judgment declaring the Right to Privacy a fundamental right will have no direct impact on WhatsApp and Facebook, a cyber security expert said on Thursday. “The reason for this is Facebook and WhatsApp are private entities. These private entities don’t get covered under the ambit of fundamental rights as they are enforced under Part 3 of the Indian constitution and they are only enforceable to state action,” Pavan Duggal, a Supreme Court advocate and cyber law expert, told IANS.
“That effectively means if the state violates the fundamental rights, you can challenge them in a court of law. A private person is not an instrumentality of the state,” Duggal said. According to him, the ramifications of this judgment on the digital and mobile eco-system will be “fascinating” to examine.
“Because in physical world, privacy is a well understood concept but privacy in the digital world is not defined,” he said, adding that the government has to quickly wake up to the reality of the connection between privacy and cybersecurity.”Read More