New Delhi:
The Delhi High Court on Monday stated accepting the new privacy policy of social messaging app WhatsApp was a “voluntary” issue and one particular can opt for not to use or join that platform if one particular did not agree with its terms and circumstances.
“It is a private app. Don’t join it. It is a voluntary thing, don’t accept it. Use some other app,” Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva stated to the petitioner, a lawyer, who has challenged WhatsApp’s new privacy policy which was slated to come into impact in February but has been deferred till May.
The court also stated that if the terms and circumstances of most mobile apps are study, “you would be surprised as to what all you are consenting to”.
“Even Google maps captures all your data and stores it,” the court stated.
The court additional stated it could not comprehend what information would be leaked according to the petitioner and given that the situation demands consideration, it will be listed on January 25 due to paucity of time on Monday.
The central government also agreed with the court that the situation desires to be analysed.
WhatsApp and Facebook, represented by senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Mukul Rohatgi, told the court that the plea was not maintainable and quite a few of the difficulties raised in it had been with no any foundation.
They additional told the court that private chat messages amongst family members and pals would stay encrypted and can not be stored by WhatsApp and this position would not transform below the new policy.
The transform in policy would only have an effect on the company chats on WhatsApp, they stated.
The petition, by a lawyer, has contended that the updated privacy policy violates customers proper to privacy below the Constitution.
The plea has claimed that the new privacy policy of WhatsApp permits complete access into a user”s on the internet activity with no there getting any supervision by the government.
Under the new policy, customers can either accept it or exit the app, but they can not opt not to share their information with other Facebook-owned or third party apps.
The lawyer appearing for the petitioner claimed that the selection not to agree with the new policy was provided to customers in European nations, but not in India.