Target WTO

Context: 

Circumventing the fundamental right to privacy

• In 2017, government asserted that Privacy is an elitist concern, and surveillance power had no constitutional limits and, no fundamental right to privacy was guaranteed by the Constitution.
• Govt tried to make AADHAR mandatory but pruned by Supreme Court.
• Issue tender to build a surveillance system but set off by Supreme Court.
• No data protection law exists in India.

What should be the features of an App?

• Any App related to Privacy should have legislative sanction as Right to Privacy is Fundamental Rights.
• Accountability of agency should be defined in case of theft of data. There should not be blanket limited liability on the Govt.
• Govt sanctioned app should not have closed source which violates transparency, an open source software allows researchers and experts to test the architecture and suggest measures to correct vulnerabilities.
• Protocol for deletion of data should be the priority.
• Testing or Pilot of these app should be run to find out the level of efficacy of the App.
• Govt should not penalizing people for not keeping the app as around only 500 million people have smartphone access.
• In Arogya Setu App, how to deal with false positives.

Instances of misuse of any application (Aarogya Setu) will not imbibe trust in other government initiatives involving health records which may jeopardise citizens’ safety.