The Centre on Thursday told the Supreme Court that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was working on a new regulatory regime to ensure online data protection and the government fully supported the freedom of choice and privacy of individuals.
The government, represented by Additional Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, submitted before a five-judge Constitution Bench led by Justice Dipak Misra that a person’s freedom of choice to share online his personal details or keep them private should not be scuttled.
The Constitution Bench was hearing a challenge against the 2016 contract entered into between WhatsApp and Facebook to share information and personal details of millions of its users.
The petition contended that this was a violation of the users’ privacy and free speech.
“I respect their [users’] choice, that is why I give end-to-end encryption,” Kapil Sibal, counsel for WhatsApp, submitted.
K.K. Venugopal, counsel for Facebook, submitted that users had a choice to stop using the service. But the court disagreed with this submission.
“That is the freedom of negative choice and not exactly the freedom of choice we are discussing here,” Justice Misra observed orally.
The court has scheduled a hearing on May 15.
