Essay On Privacy Issues In India

In this day and age, privacy continues to be a growing concern in India and as such awareness of privacy issues is on the rise within NGOs, academic institutions and media organizations etc raising voices against the breach of Privacy. As already discussed above, one of the most influential judgments by the Supreme Court of India on the issue of wiretapping brought to it in 1997 as a Public Interest Litigation by the People’s Union of Civil Liberties – an acclaimed NGO working on civil rights issues in India. In 2009 , the Delhi High Court, in a major ruling, ‘read down’ Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which had been previously used to criminalize homosexuality in India. This case was also brought to the Delhi High Court as a PIL by an NGO called the Naz Foundation. So NGOs have played a pivotal role in shaping the right to privacy in India over the years.

have also played a part in raising awareness among government and the public about privacy issues ensuing unauthorised access to one’s private and personal information. In this section of the Chapter, an attempt is being

RTI laws are now common with legislation adopted in almost 90 countries. Access to information is being facilitated through new information and communications technologies, and web sites containing searchable government records are becoming even more widely available . Subsequently, in response to this set of circumstances, more than 60 countries have adopted comprehensive laws that give individuals some control over the collection and use of these data by public and private bodies. Several major international conventions have long been in place in Europe, and new ones are emerging in Africa and Asia. Eventually, India also passed the Right to Information Act in 2005, which has ushered in an unprecedented era of openness in government