IT rules: Centre ‘trying to make inroads’ into right to privacy of citizens, says Justice Srikrishna
Retired Supreme Court judge BN Srikrishna has criticised the new information technology rules that require social media platforms with over 50 lakh users to help in identifying the “originator” of messages upon the government’s request. In an interview with The Economic Times that was published on Monday, Srikrishna said the government was “trying to make inroads into the fundamental right of privacy”.
The retired judge, who led the committee that came up with the draft of the Personal Data Protection Bill, said the demand to break privacy protections was not legal unless the Parliament passed a legislation for the same. It has been three years since the draft PDP bill was submitted to the government and is yet to be turned into law.
WhatsApp, which has nearly 40 crore users in India, has sued the government, seeking to block the new IT rules. The messaging giant in a petition before the Delhi High Court, argued that the provision to trace every single message was unconstitutional and against people’s fundamental right to privacy….
