The Union government informed the Supreme Court on April 11, 2023 that a new law, namely the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2022, to enforce individual privacy in online space is “ready”.
“The new Bill will be tabled in the Monsoon Session of the Parliament in July,” Attorney General R. Venkataramani, appearing for the Union, informed a Constitution Bench led by Justice KM Joseph.
The new Bill, if passed by the Parliament, would replace the current Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, which was notified in 2011. The Supreme Court had recognised privacy as a fundamental right in 2017 and highlighted the need to protect online personal data from prying eyes.
In January, the government had, in an affidavit filed in court, said the Information Technology Ministry had initiated a stakeholder consultation exercise on the draft Bill, inviting comments from the public on November 18, 2022, the last date for receipt of which was January 2, 2023.
It had then briefed the court that the Ministry was in the process of “collating and analysing the feedback and suggestions received, with a view to take the draft Bill forward”. It had assured the court that the Bill would be presented in the Parliament at the earliest.
The purpose of the 2022 Bill is to “provide for the processing of digital personal data in a manner that recognises both the right of individuals to protect their personal data and the need to process personal data for lawful purposes”.
‘Data’ under the new Bill is defined as a “representation of information, facts, concepts, opinions or instructions in a manner suitable for communication, interpretation or processing by humans or by automated means”.
The Bill separately defines data fiduciary as persons who determined the purpose and means of processing of personal data; data principal as the individual to whom the personal data related to; data processor as any person who processes personal data on behalf of a data fiduciary.
Venkataramani’s submission came during the Constitution Bench hearing of petitions, represented by senior advocate Shyam Divan, challenging WhatsApp’s policy to share users’ data with Facebook group of companies.
Divan sounded skeptical about the enactment of the Bill, saying that the government had been giving assurances for months. “Please do not link our court hearings with the legislative process. The legislative process is complex. It (the Bill) may go to some committee or other. Our petitions have been pending since 2017…” Divan said.
“The Bill had to go through a qualified consultative process. You have to do that if you want a good law,” Venkataramani countered. Justice Joseph said two judges on the Constitution Bench, himself and Justice Ajay Rastogi, were retiring in June 2023.
The court referred the petitions back to the Chief Justice of India to constitute a fresh Bench while listing the case again preferably in the first week of August 2023, after the proposed tabling of the new Bill during the Monsoon Session.
It recorded in an order the submission of the Attorney General that the new Bill would “address all the concerns” raised in the petitions. In the previous hearing in February, WhatsApp had agreed to undertake that it would not limit the access of users who have not agreed to its 2021 privacy policy.
The Constitution Bench had directed WhatsApp, appearing through senior advocate Kapil Sibal, to publish its undertaking in full-page advertisements on two occasions in five national newspapers.
The court had agreed with WhatsApp’s submission that it would abide by an undertaking given in a letter to the government on May 22, 2021. WhatsApp, in the letter, had said it would “not limit the functionality of how WhatsApp works in the coming weeks as previously planned. We will continue to display our update from time to time to people who have not yet accepted. In addition we will display the update whenever a user chooses relevant option features….We hope this approach reinforces the choice that people have in how they use WhatsApp. We will maintain this approach till the forthcoming Data Protection Bill comes into existence.”
The court had said the interim directions in February would be complied without any prejudice to the contentions of either parties.
Kunal Kamra moves Bombay High Court challenging new IT Rules
The Bombay High Court on April 11, 2023 directed the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to file its response to a plea by Kunal Kamra, political satirist and stand up artist, challenging the constitutional validity of the Information Technology Amendment Rules, 2023.
A division bench of justices Gautam Patel and Neela Gokhale was hearing senior advocate Navroz Seervai appearing for Kamra. He argued that the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023 do not come within the reasonable restrictions. This is against the interest of the public and is neither reasonable, he had said.
The court granted the Ministry one week to reply on why the IT Amendment Rules, 2023 should not be stayed by April 19 and the matter will be heard on April 21. The court has asked the Ministry to describe the factual background that necessitated the issuance of the amendments in its affidavit.
Internet Freedom Foundation had filed this petition on April 10 that mentions, “The Rules violate the right to freedom of speech and expression as per the Constitution of India as they do not define the phrases “any business of the Central Government”; “fake or false or misleading”; or “reasonable efforts”. The phrase “any business of the Central Government” is boundless and easily manipulated to include almost any aspect of modern life under a welfare state. The Rules also do not satisfy reasonable restrictions on freedom of speech and expression and violate the right to practice and trade or profession as per Article 19 (1) (g) of the Constitution of India.”
The new Rules have amended some rules in the 2021 IT Rules as a result of which social media intermediaries are directed to make “reasonable efforts” to protect their users -- through rules, regulations, and other policies -- not to “host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, store, update or share any information” which is “identified as fake or false or misleading by a fact check unit of the central government” in respect of “any business of the central government.” In effect the new Rules require social media intermediaries to censor or otherwise modify content that relates to the Central government, if a government-mandated fact checking body directs them to do so.
The petition contends, “The amended Rules are manifestly arbitrary, as they entail the central government acting as a judge and prosecutor in its own cause, thus violating one of the most fundamental principles of natural justice. Furthermore, they are over-board, vague and constitute restrictions to freedom of speech and expression.”
Supreme Court dismisses Tamil Nadu government appeal against RSS march
The Supreme Court on Tuesday, April 11, 2023, dismissed the appeals filed by the Tamil Nadu government against Madras High Court orders allowing the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak (RSS) to conduct rallies in the State.
“All SLPs (special leave petitions) are dismissed,” Justice V. Ramasubramanian, heading the Bench which gave the judgment, said shortly as soon as the court assembled for the day. A single Bench of the High Court allowed the route marches in September and went on to impose a few restrictions in November.
In February this year, a Division Bench of the High Court had removed the restrictions/conditions on the route marches The Tamil Nadu government had filed a special leave petition against a September 22, 2022 order of the Single Judge of the Madras High Court allowing the RSS to conduct route marches.
The State had appealed the Division Bench order first in the apex court and followed it up by filing a separate appeal against the original Single Judge Bench order of September 2022. Tamil Nadu had argued that the RSS cannot seek a carte blanche in conducting the marches. It said conducting route march through certain communally sensitive areas in the State would prove to be detrimental to law and order. It had named the presence of the banned Popular Front of India in Tamil Nadu, and said there were intelligence reports of threats and even possible attack on RSS route marches in some areas. The State said it had the authority to reasonably restrict freedoms in public interest to maintain law and order.
The RSS had however countered that the State cannot stop an organisation from holding peaceful marches for apprehensions about a banned outfit. The High Court had previously agreed that the situation of security in the State offered a mixed bag.
But the apex court had indicated during the hearing that the State should not use its power over law and order to strike down the language of democracy which allows the holding of peaceful rallies.
The Division Bench of the High Court in February had also urged the State to “act in a manner to uphold the fundamental right to freedom of speech, expression and assembly as regarded one of the most sacrosanct and inviolable rights envisaged in our Constitution”.
“The State’s approach towards citizens’ right can never be adversarial in a welfare State and it must be considered for granting permission for peaceful rallies, protest, processions or meeting so as to maintain a healthy democracy where the constitution reigns supreme and the fundamental rights of citizens are placed at a lofty pedestal,” the High Court had observed.
TOEFL to be shortened by an hour from July, candidates to get real-time notification of score status
The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) will now take less than two hours to complete instead of three hours and the candidates will be able to see their official score release date upon completion of the test, according to the Educational Testing Services (ETS).
ETS, which conducts TOEFL and Graduate Record Examinations (GRE), announced on April 11, 2023 a series of changes in the English language proficiency test to create an optimal experience for those taking it. The changes will be effective from July 26.
TOEFL is welcomed by more than 10,000 institutions in over 150 countries and is universally accepted in popular destinations like the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and by over 98% of universities in the U.K. According to ETS, while the reading section will be shortened, the “independent writing task” will be replaced by the “writing for an academic discussion”. All unscored questions will also be removed from the exam.
Test takers will see their official score release date upon completion of the test, in addition to receiving real-time notification of changes to their score status.
Toll in Louisville shooting rises to 5; bank employee livestreamed attack
A Louisville bank employee armed with a rifle opened fire at his workplace Monday morning, killing five people — including a close friend of Kentucky’s governor — while livestreaming the attack on Instagram, authorities said.
Police arrived as shots were still being fired inside Old National Bank and killed the shooter in an exchange of gunfire, Louisville Metro Police Department Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel said. The city’s mayor, Craig Greenberg, called the attack “an evil act of targeted violence.”
The shooting, the 15th mass killing in the country this year, comes just two weeks after a former student killed three children and three adults at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, about 160 miles (260 kilometers) to the south. That state’s governor and his wife also had friends killed in that shooting.
In Louisville, the chief identified the shooter as 25-year-old Connor Sturgeon, who she said was livestreaming during the attack. “That’s tragic to know that that incident was out there and captured,” she said.
Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, said in a statement that it had “quickly removed the livestream of this tragic incident this morning.”
Social media companies have imposed tougher rules over the past few years to prohibit violent and extremist content. They have set up systems to remove posts and streams that violate those restrictions, but shocking material like the Louisville shooting continues to slip through the cracks, prompting lawmakers and other critics to lash out at the technology industry for slipshod safeguards and moderation policies.
A man who fled the building during the shooting told WHAS-TV that the shooter opened fire with a long rifle in a conference room in the back of the building’s first floor.
“Whoever was next to me got shot — blood is on me from it,” he told the news station, pointing to his shirt. He said he fled to a break room and shut the door.
Nine people, including two police officers, were treated for injuries, University of Louisville Hospital spokeswoman Heather Fountaine said in an email. One of the wounded, identified as 57-year-old Deana Eckert, later died, police said Monday night.
The 15 mass shootings this year are the most during the first 100 days of a calendar year since 2009, when 16 had occurred by April 10, according to a mass killings database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. The pace slowed later in 2009, with 32 mass killings recorded that year.
Going back to 2006, the first year for which data has been compiled, the years with the most mass killings were 2019 and 2022, with 45 and 42 mass killings recorded during the entire calendar year.
In Brief:
India’s four-year run of munificent summer monsoon rainfall is likely to end this year, with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasting a 4% shortfall in the coming monsoon season. Though still categorised as ‘normal’, it is – at 96% of the Long Period Average (LPA) – at the lowest end of what the agency categorises as normal rainfall. Most recently, it was in 2017 that the IMD forecast 96% in April that year, for the monsoon, and India saw a 2.6% shortfall that year. The key factor believed to be playing spoilsport this year is the development of ‘El Nino’, a cyclical phenomenon of warming in the central Pacific that in six out of ten years is linked to diminished rainfall in the country’s west, northwest and in western parts of central India.
Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.
