Social Media case: TMC MP Mahua Moitra moves impleadment plea in Madras High Court

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra has moved a plea in the Madras High Court seeking impleadment in the case concerning accountability of social media companies and traceability of online crimes..The PIL kept pending to navigate ways in which online crime may be curbed with the assistance of social media companies was taken up last by the High Court on September 20, when it opted to defer hearing in view of the fact that the Supreme Court is yet to take a call on whether the matter should be transferred to itself..In the meanwhile, Moitra has submitted that the manner in which arguments in the case is progressing has been veering “towards the abrogation of individual privacy rights through proposals that serve to undermine the end-to-end encryption of online communication and increase traceability of users on online platforms like WhatsApp, twitter etc.“.She has raised particular concern over IIT Professor, Dr V Kamakoti’s submissions concerning ways in which the original sender of a WhatsApp message could be traced. Moitra has contended the proposal has serious defects from a privacy standpoint and is unlikely to achieve the intended result. In this regard, her plea states,.“Firstly, the recommendation to publicly display the phone number of the originator of a message is highly unlikely to result in the actual source of that message being identified. Technically skilled persons will always be able to use simple workarounds to mask their own phone numbers, or instead link messages to someone else’s number; technically unskilled individuals and laypersons would also be made more vulnerable by having their contact information exposed, thereby further eroding online safety and privacy norms. .Secondly, the creation of a backdoor access to all encrypted data within WhatsApp would result in seriously undermining the privacy of the entire platform and introduce potential hacking and privacy intrusion. Anonymity is an integral part of information privacy, and was recognised as such ….in the Justice Puttuswamy v Union of India case…”.Referring to the prayers in the PIL for the linkage of online profiles with government ID, the plea submits,.“The linking, indexing and permanent association of such communication to their identities would amount to a serious invasion of their expectation or privacy in the private spheres of their life, and have a significant chilling effect on the usage of any technology by Indian citizens.”.While this is the case, Moitra has argued that the State should be ensuring that digital privacy remains sacrosanct, more so in view of the fact that India is yet to pass a data protection law, even though the Data Protection Bill has gone through a series of public consultations. Moitra argues,.“The said Personal Data Protection Bill, through its scheme, contains provisions for conducting the analysis envisaged by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the Privacy Case… any analysis of steps to be taken for the decryption of online communications, the linkage of governmental identification with online accounts, or any other abrogation of online privacy, is premature in the absence of a robust and detailed privacy legislation being used as the framework upon which such an analysis should occur.”.In view of these concerns touching upon privacy rights, Moitra has now sought for impleadment in the case..“Being the elected representative of a constituency…I have a duty to voice concerns on their behalf with regard to the protection of their fundamental right to privacy. Accordingly, I seek to be impleaded… as a Respondent so that I may make my submissions against the increasing trend towards abrogation of the individual’s right to privacy.“.A plea filed last year to link Aadhaar with email had culminated in the Madras High Court coordinating efforts by law enforcement agencies and major social media intermediary companies to find more effective ways to curb online crime..Social media giants WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, Google and YouTube were impleaded in the case last year. Earlier this year, the High Court also allowed NGO, Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) to implead itself in the case..Recently, the lead petitioner in the matter, Antony Clement Rubin filed an application to amend his writ petition, so that his initial plea for Aadhaar linkage may be modified. Instead of Aadhaar, Rubin has now sought for the linking of any “government approved or authorized identities” for the purpose of authentication while setting up e-mail or user accounts on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter, and in the utility accounts like Paytm, Uber, Ola, Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail..The Madras High Court is expected to take up the social media case next on October 1..Bar & Bench is available on WhatsApp. For real-time updates on stories, Click here to subscribe to our WhatsApp.