Justice K.S.Puttaswamy(Retd) vs Union Of India on 26 September, 2018
other while talking. There is a wealth of information available on different networks to which they
can easily access and satisfy their quest for knowledge within seconds by getting an answer. People
can move from one place to the other with the aid of Global Positioning System (GPS). They can
hear music and watch movies on their handy gadgets, including smart cellphones. We are in the age
of digital economy which has enabled multiple avenues for a common man. Internet access is
becoming cheaper by the day, which can be accessed not only through the medium of desktop
computers or laptops and even other handy gadgets like smart phones. Electronic transactions like
online shopping, bill payments, movie/train/air ticket bookings, funds transfer, e-wallet payments,
online banking and online insurance etc. are happening with extreme ease at the touch of a finger.
Such tasks can be undertaken sitting in drawing rooms. Even while travelling from one place to the
other in their car, they can indulge in all the aforesaid activities. In that sense, technology has made
their life so easy.
160) However, there is another side to do as well, like any coin which has two sides. The use of such
technologies is at the cost of giving away personal information, which is in the realm of privacy. In
order to connect with such technologies and avail their benefits, the users are parting with their
biometric information like fingerprints and iris as well as demographic information like their
names, parentage, family members, their age, even personal information like their sex, blood group
or even the ailments they are suffering from. Not only this, use of aforesaid facilities on net or any
portal like Apple, Google, Facebook etc. involves tracking their movements, including the nature of
activities, like the kind of shopping, the places from where shopping is done, the actual money spent
thereon, the nature of movies watched etc. All this data is there with the companies in respect of its
users which may even turn into metadata. In fact, cases after cases are reported where such data of
users is parted with various purposes. Interestingly, for using such facilities, people knowingly and
willingly, are ready to part with their vital personal information. Every transaction on a digital
platform is linked with some form of sensitive personal information. It can be an individuals user
name, password, account number, PAN number, biometric details, e-mail ID, debit/credit card
number, CVV number and transaction OTP etc.
161) These have raised concerns about the privacy and protection of data, which has become a
matter of great concern. Problem is not limited to data localisation but has become extra-territorial.
There are issues of cross-border transfers of personal data, regulation whereof is again a big
challenge with which various opinions are grappling. There are even talks of convergence of
regulatory regime in this behalf so that uniform approach is adopted in providing a legal ecosystem
to regulate cross-border data transfer. Asian Business Law Institute (ABLI), in collaboration with
Singapore Academy of Law (SAL) has, after undertaking in-depth study, compiled 14 country
reports in their respective jurisdictions on the regulation of cross-border data transfer and data
localisation in Asia.
162) In the aforesaid scenario, interesting issue is posed by the respondents, viz., when so much
personal information about people is already available in public domain, how can there be an
expectancy of data privacy. That aspect is dealt with while discussing the issue of privacy. Here, we
are concerned with data protection under Aadhaar that is available with the State. As pointed out
above, even in respect of private players, the data protection has become a matter of serious
Indian Kanoon - http://indiankanoon.org/doc/127517806/
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