WhatsApp privacy policy not conforming to Indian IT laws: Centre to HC
The Centre on Monday told the Delhi High Court that it views the
new privacy policy of WhatsApp as a
violation of the Indian Information Technology (IT) law and rules, and sought
directions to the social media platform to make it clear whether it was
confirming to the same.
The central government's claim was made before a bench of Chief
Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh during hearing of several pleas
challenging WhatsApp's new privacy policy, which according to the platform has
come into effect from May 15 and has not been deferred.
WhatsApp told
the bench that while its new privacy policy has come into effect from May 15,
it would not start deleting accounts of those users who have not accepted it
and would try to encourage them to get on board.
The platform said there was no universal or uniform time limit
after which it will start to delete accounts as each user would be dealt with
it on case-to-case basis.
The bench issued notice to the Centre, Facebook and WhatsApp and sought
their stand on one of the pleas by a lawyer who has claimed that the new policy
violates users' right to privacy under the Constitution.
During the hearing, the Centre said that according to it the
policy was in violation of Indian IT laws and rules.
It said it has written to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on the
issue and a reply is awaited and therefore, there was a need to maintain status
quo with regard to implementation of the policy.
WhatsApp, opposing the contention, said it was conforming to
Indian IT law and rules and added that its policy has come into effect from May
15, but it won't be deleting accounts right away.
When the matter was initially listed before a single judge, the
Centre had said that WhatsApp was treating Indian users differently from
Europeans over opting out of its new privacy policy which was a matter of
concern for the government and it was looking into the issue.
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