The petitioners also sought an injunction on any data that is being shared until such time a cohesive data protection law comes into force
The Supreme Court has asked messaging app WhatsApp to come clean if it is sharing any data with Facebook or any other third party platforms. And if it is, the top court has asked WhatsApp clarify what the data is.
Senior advocate K V Vishwanathan and advocate Madhvi Diwan, representing the petitioners who have challenged WhatsApp's privacy policy, alleged that the messaging app is sharing personal user information and other details that could profile a user with its parent company Facebook and other third party apps. The change in WhatsApp's privacy policy came after it was bought over by Mark Zuckerberg in 2014.
The information gleaned by sharing this personal data and other metadata is used by Facebook for targeted advertising, Vishwanathan said before a five-judge constitutional bench led by the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.
The petitioners also sought an injunction on any data that is being shared until such time a cohesive data protection law comes into force.
However, senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Arvind Datar who represent WhatsApp and Facebook denied the assertations made and submitted only limited content is being shared. "We are merely sharing the mobile number, last seen status (on WhatsApp), and the registration model number of the phone," Sibal said.
Opposing any move for an injunction, Sibal said: "We are sharing information, and it is going to be used at some point." However, they would file an affidavit clarifying what is being shared and with whom.
Representing the Centre, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta submitted that the Centre has constituted a panel under the aegis of former supreme court judge Justice BN Srikrishna "to identify key data protection issues in India and recommend methods of addressing them."
This report could result in a comprehensive data protection law, the Centre submitted to a bench that also comprised Justices AK Sikri, Amitava Roy, AM Khanwilkar and MM Shantanagouder.
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