Is Privacy on the Internet and Personal Privacy Inter-related?

Before diving into the concepts of privacy on the internet and personal privacy, let us have some idea regarding the term ‘Privacy’ itself. The origin of Privacy has been accredited to the Greek philosopher Aristotle in the judgement of Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) & Anr. vs. Union of India & Ors. The division of public and private realms is said to have been brought out by Aristotle. He put forward the division i.e., namely, as ‘polis’ and ‘Oikos. Here, ‘polis’ refers to the public sphere of political affairs and ‘Oikos refers to the personal sphere of human life. Also, according to the Black’s Law Dictionary, Privacy means the Right to be let alone; the right of a person to be free from unwarranted publicity. So, in other words, privacy means being free from unwanted or undue intrusion or disturbance. 

The concept of Privacy, however, stepped the stairs of the Hon’ble Supreme Court through the case of M.P. Sharma & Ors. Vs. Satish Chandra. In this case, it was held that the provisions of search & seizure under Sections 94 & 96 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 are only temporary interferences and cannot per se be considered unconstitutional. Such power in any system is an overriding power of the state for the protection of social security. This Right to Privacy has been guaranteed to us by our Constitution through Article 21 by the fundamental right to life & personal liberty. Although it hasn’t been expressly provided, the Supreme Court through its interpretation has recognized the Right to Privacy as a fundamental right in the landmark judgement of K.S. Puttaswamy in 2017. It has been accepted as an integral part of life and has been availed to humans as a sense of freedom from public scrutiny unless there is a commission of any unlawful act. Hence, this concept of Privacy is said to make a stay; as long as it is consistent with the laws of the land and public policy.
Then, comes the concept of privacy on the internet. As we get to the concept of privacy on the internet, it is almost impossible to escape the term ‘data’. It has been defined in the Information Technology Act, 2000 as “a representation of information, knowledge, facts, concepts or instructions which are being prepared or have been prepared in a formalized manner, and is intended to be processed, is being processed or has been processed in a computer system or computer network, and maybe in any form (including computer printouts magnetic or optical storage media, punched cards, punched tapes) or stored internally in the memory of the computer”. Thereby, the data that is once let out through electronic media for the reason of communication becomes vulnerable. It is as such because the data is no more restricted to the custody of the owner of the said information. So, thereby the concept of privacy breach and violation emerges in the
internet realm. 
Now, taking into consideration one's general knowledge and awareness, the constituents, actions as well as reactions on the internet are largely regulated by the Information Technology Act, 2000. Therefore, we are stuck with a few yet widely expanding provisions that punish the violators of privacy caused through the internet as a medium of communication. Such provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000 include:

Section 43 A; Compensation for failure to protect data

Section 66 E; Punishment for violation of Privacy
Section 72; Breach of confidentiality & Privacy
Section 72 A; Punishment for disclosure of information in breach of lawful contract.

There also exist other laws that even though are not specifically dealing with technology or privacy, but are applicable in cases related to privacy. Such laws include: The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Applicable sections: 500, 292, 447, & 509.), The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Sections 91 & 92- compel the production of things), Right to Information Act, 2005 (Section: 8), Indian Telegraph Rules, 1951 (Rule 419A), Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933, The IT Interception Rules, 2009, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967, etc. 
Hence, it would be safe to say that the right to privacy deals with information relating to a person when it is put up for scrutiny by any establishment, organization, government official, etc. So, after going through the concept of privacy, it would not be fundamentally wrong to say that there lies an inter-link between privacy on the Internet as well as personal privacy. As the data on the internet that is subjected to breach is personal in nature, any breach that occurs is directly or indirectly related to personal data. Even if it’s a case of breach of organizational data, it is a breach that constitutes clusters of personal data. 

Case References:

1) Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) & Anr. vs. Union of India & Ors (2017) 10 SCC 1: AIR 2017 SC 4161

2) M.P. Sharma & Ors. Vs. Satish Chandra (1954) AIR 300: (1954) SCR 1077

                                      By: Amrita Mohanty

                                                 (Legal Intern, WCSF)

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