The center said on Wednesday that it had no intention of restricting an individual’s right to privacy – which the Supreme Court declared a fundamental right in 2017 – while also making it clear that the new rules would affect how WhatsApp, the popular messaging app, works. would not affect.
“The Indian government is committed to guaranteeing the right to privacy for all citizens. At the same time, however, it is the government’s responsibility to uphold law and order and ensure national security,” said an official statement from the Ministry of Electronics IT (MeitY) quoted Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad as saying.
Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “None of the measures proposed by India will in any way affect the normal functioning of WhatsApp and there will be no impact on the common users.”
This comes after WhatsApp moved the Delhi High Court against the new rules communicated by MeitY. WhatsApp said, “It [the new rules] This would force us to break the end-to-end encryption of our messaging service and violate the fundamental right to privacy and freedom of expression of hundreds of millions of citizens who use WhatsApp. “
To clarify the position, the government said: “Such requirements only apply in the event that the embassy is required to prevent, investigate or punish very serious crimes relating to the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the state and the friendly relations with foreign states or public policy or incitement to any crime related to any of the above or related to rape, sexually explicit material or material intended for the sexual abuse of children. “
The rules were set after consulting various stakeholders and social media intermediaries, including but not limited to WhatsApp, the government said.
“After October 2018, WhatsApp did not raise any specific written objection to the Government of India’s obligation to track down the first perpetrator of serious crimes. They have generally looked for time to increase the time for policy enforcement but have not given any formal indication that traceability is not possible, ”the statement from MeitY said.
The ministry said WhatsApp’s refusal to adhere to the guidelines was a clear violation of a measure the intent of which certainly could not be doubted.
The new rules were announced on February 25th of this year and are effective from today. They contain a provision that makes it mandatory for social media apps to trace every message back to its original sender.
Such a mechanism is unique to an app that uses end-to-end encryption when implementing a messaging or chat app like WhatsApp. In its petition, WhatsApp stressed that this was not feasible.
“There is no way of predicting what message may be the subject of a government tracking order,” WhatsApp said in its petition.
“The new IT rules allow tracing without a judicial review,” said WhatsApp.
Ravi Shankar Prasad, on the other hand, claimed that “the entire debate about whether or not to keep encryption is out of place”.
“Whether the right to privacy is guaranteed through the use of encryption technology or any other technology is solely the responsibility of the social media intermediary. The Indian government is committed to ensuring that all citizens have the right to privacy, as well as the means and information available to them This is WhatsApp’s responsibility to find a technical solution, whether through encryption or otherwise, ”said Ravi Shankar Prasad.
“On the one hand, WhatsApp would like to prescribe a data protection guideline in which the data of all users are passed on to the parent company Facebook for marketing and advertising purposes. On the other hand, WhatsApp is making every effort to oppose the adoption of the interim directives necessary to maintain law and order and curb the threat of fake messages, ”the statement said.
Citing examples from countries such as the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand and Canada that have issued a communique stating, “Tech companies should incorporate mechanisms into the design of their encrypted products and services that governments have reasonable act with legal authority. can access data in a readable and usable format. “
MeitY said the rules issued by the government in the public interest are not isolated rules but have global priority.
“What India is asking is much less than what some other countries are asking. Therefore, WhatsApp’s attempt to portray the Intermediary Guidelines of India as a violation of the right to privacy is wrong, ”the statement said.
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