Government to Whatsapp – Roll Back Privacy
In a communication sent late on Tuesday to WhatsApp, the IT ministry said that the changes to the privacy policy and the manner of introducing these changes undermines the sacrosanct values of informational privacy, data security and user choice for Indian users and harms the rights and interests of Indian citizens.
The ministry also reiterated the “discriminatory” treatment meted out to Indian WhatsApp users compared to those in Europe.
The notice to Whatsapp read, and I quote “As you are doubtlessly aware, many Indian citizens depend on WhatsApp to communicate in everyday life. It is not just problematic, but also irresponsible, for WhatsApp to leverage this position to impose unfair terms and conditions on Indian users, particularly those that discriminate against Indian users vis-à-vis users in Europe. Whatsapp, on its part maintains that its new privacy policy does not impact the “privacy of personal messages for anyone”. In a statement, the company said the majority of its users have already accepted the company’s new privacy policy, and no account in India has been deleted or functionality impaired after May 15.
