Delhi High Court Seeks WhatsApp’s Response On Concerns Over New Privacy Policy
“Not dealing with sensitive information,” WhatsApp’s counsel tells the court.
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked online messaging service WhatsApp and it’s parent company, social networking site Facebook, to respond to allegations made in a public interest litigation (PIL) with respect to WhatsApp’s new privacy policy.
The PIL has alleged that though WhatsApp claims to offer end-to-end encryption there are loopholes in its policy which leads to a breach of security. “Though the new privacy policy seeks to give an impression that it is continuing to retain end-to-end encryption and other features for securing the privacy of the users, a thorough reading of the policy as a whole clearly shows that it is very cleverly worded and is also very misleading in nature,” according to the petition.
WhatsApp’s new privacy policy allows it to collect and share information on its users with Facebook, for the limited purpose of providing targeted ads, and giving better friend suggestions, the messaging service said in a blog post. This includes sharing of phone numbers and information on a user’s contact list in violation of his/her privacy.
Complete security and protection of privacy of the details and data belonging/relating to all the users of Whatsapp – has remained an extremely significant, essential and basic feature of this internet based messaging service but stands compromised under the new policy, the PIL stated.
The petition called the consent sought by the service from the user before accepting the policy a facade and stated that most users were not equipped to comprehend the terms and conditions which made such consent “deceptive” in nature.
Senior Advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for WhatsApp, argued in court that the messaging service does not have access to any data as it provides end-to-end encryption.
We only have access to the person’s name and number which is also obtained by online consent. We are abiding by the government’s regulations for messenger apps. We are not dealing with sensitive information at all.Siddharth Luthra, Senior Advocate appearing for WhatsApp
Luthra refuted the petitioners’ allegations that 13-year-olds or teenagers were using WhatsApp messenger and data can be misused. “You cannot get a SIM in this country till you are 18 years old. How can 13-year-olds use WhatsApp? And nobody forces anyone to use WhatsApp,” he told the court.
The Chief Justice-led bench in the Delhi High Court asked WhatsApp and Facebook to file their responses by September 20 and will hear the case on September 21.
The PIL has termed WhatsApp’s privacy policy as an “eyewash” and “blatant attempt” to make all users agree to their policy while installing and using the messenger app.
“This so-called privacy policy is not a privacy policy at all, and is only a camouflage with the ulterior motive to intrude into the privacy of the users in an entirely illegal and impermissible manner,” alleged petitoners Karmanya Sareen and Shreya Sethi, who are 19 and 22 years old respectively.
The PIL sought a directive from the court to the Central government to formulate a policy for app-based messenger services to inform users about “true import of their privacy policy”, and to restrain WhatsApp from misusing data collected through its messenger service.