Traders' body moves SC against WhatsApp, Facebook over privacy policy

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), which represents 70 million traders, has filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the updated privacy policy of Facebook-owned messaging giant WhatsApp.
 

The petition comes with the prayer to direct WhatsApp to withdraw its new (updated) privacy policy which is encroaching upon various fundamental rights of the citizens granted by Constitution of India.
 

CAIT has also prayed that Union of India must frame guidelines to govern big technology companies like WhatsApp and frame policies which would protect the privacy of citizens and businesses.
 

“WhatsApp has adopted the approach of ‘my way or the highway’ which is arbitrary, unjustified, unconstitutional and cannot be accepted in a democratic country like India. WhatsApp has been fraudulently collecting personal user data,” CAIT National President  B C Bhartia and Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal alleged in a statement.
 

The traders' body said the petition highlights the difference of approach in EU (European Union) and India with respect to the privacy policy of WhatsApp and how the data of Indian users can be misused by big tech companies. The petition has been drafted by Advocate Abir Roy and settled and filed in Supreme Court by Advocate on Record Vivek Narayan Sharma.
 

CAIT said at the time of its launch, WhatsApp attracted users based on the promise of non-sharing of user data and strong privacy principles. In 2014, after the acquisition of WhatsApp by Facebook, when the users were in fear that their personal data will be shared with Facebook, WhatsApp promised that nothing would change in the privacy policy. However, in August 2016, CAIT said WhatsApp retracted from it and introduced a new Privacy Policy which severely compromised the rights of its users and mad the Privacy rights of users completely vulnerable.
 

Under the new privacy policy, it allowed the sharing of personal data with Facebook and all its group companies for commercial advertising and marketing. “Since then, the company has been altering its policies to collect and process a wider range of information, and share the same with the third party applications,” alleged CAIT.
 

CAIT said it will not allow any Corporate or Conglomerate to enforce its obnoxious policies and sinister designs to make a profit in an unethical manner resting the gun on the shoulder of people of India.
 

Meanwhile, WhatsApp announced delaying by three months the implementation of a new privacy policy. It has faced massive backlash with tens of millions of its users moving from the platform to rivals like Signal and Telegram. The policy change was originally scheduled to come into effect on February 8.

READ MORE: WhatsApp to delay launch of new business features after privacy backlash
 

“We’re now moving back the date on which people will be asked to review and accept the terms. No one will have their account suspended or deleted on February 8,” said WhatsApp. “We're also going to do a lot more to clear up the misinformation around how privacy and security work on WhatsApp. We’ll then go to people gradually to review the policy at their own pace before new business options are available on May 15.”
 

WhatsApp said it heard from so many people how much confusion there is around its recent update.  The company said there has been a lot of misinformation causing concern and it wants to help everyone understand its principles and the facts.
 

“WhatsApp was built on a simple idea: what you share with your friends and family stays between you,” said the company. The firm said this means it will always protect users personal conversations with end-to-end encryption so that neither WhatsApp nor Facebook can see their private messages. “It’s why we don’t keep logs of who everyone’s messaging or calling. We also can’t see your shared location and we don’t share your contacts with Facebook.”
 

 WhatsApp said with the updates, none of that is changing. Instead, the update includes new options people will have to message a business on WhatsApp, and provides further transparency about how it collects and uses data. While not everyone shops with a business on WhatsApp today, the firm said it thinks that more people will choose to do so in the future and its important people are aware of these services. “This update does not expand our ability to share data with Facebook,” said the company.

READ MORE: WhatsApp scrambles as users in big Indian market fret over privacy
 

WhatsApp said it helped bring end-to-end encryption to people across the world and it is committed to defending this security technology now and in the future. “Thank you to everyone who has reached out to us and to so many who have helped spread facts and stop rumours,” said WhatsApp. “We will continue to put everything we have into making WhatsApp the best way to communicate privately.”