Data Privacy Breach in India

                                                      Data privacy breach in India

Introduction

The Right to Privacy is a constitutional right that allows an individual to govern the use and dissemination of their personal information. It is guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. An individual can use this right to prevent their personal information from being collected, used, or disclosed.

 An individual can acquire and use a variety of different forms of personal information. Medical records, financial information, and habits and activities are just a few examples.There is a danger that the existence of computerized data about an individual could be used to create inaccurate or misleading information about him or her. This could be exploited by unauthorized third parties.

The Supreme Court stated in the State of Maharashtra v. Bharat Shanti Lai Shah 2008 that though interception of conversation constitutes an invasion of privacy, it can still be curtailed by following legal procedures. In order for the court to make the appropriate ruling, the procedure itself must be fair, just, and reasonable, and should not be arbitrary, frivolous, or oppressive. A person’s right to privacy cannot be infringed by an unrestrained authority. [Directorate of Revenue v. Mohd. NisarHolia .

What is a data privacy breach

A data breach occurs when someone's personal information is accessed without their permission. As a result, a data breach is defined as the disclosure of sensitive, confidential, or protected information. According to a research, India ranked third in the world in terms of data breaches from November 2016 to November 2021, with 86.63 million Indian consumers affected. Given the financial and security risks that a data breach might pose, this is a big worry. Criminals can use the information to create false ID cards, make fraudulent bank calls, and other criminal actions.

Smartphones, laptops, tabs, etc. have become indispensable products in the 21st century. It is very easy for anyone to gather details after a consumer downloads an app. The details often submitted are age, qualification, gender, location, interests, and Aadhar number. This is quite often sold for hefty amounts. Therefore, it is very crucial that there are stringent laws and their implementation to prevent such data breaches and transmission without consent. 

A data breach can result in the leak of several types of information such as:

Financial Data—such as credit card numbers, bank details, tax forms, invoices, financial statements

Medical or Personal Health Information (PHI)—as defined in the US HIPAA standard, “information that is created by a health care provider [and] relates to the past, present, or future physical or mental health or condition of any individual”

Personally Identifiable Information (PII)—information that can be used to identify, contact or locate a person

Intellectual property—such as patents, trade secrets, blueprints, customer lists, contracts

Vulnerable and sensitive information (usually of military or political nature)—such as meeting recordings or protocols, agreements, classified documents

Data privacy and protection

For the sake of privacy and data protection, a person's personal information should not be made readily available to other individuals and organisations on an automatic basis. Each individual must have a significant amount of control over the data. Individual information is legally protected from misuse on any medium, including computers. Administrative, technical, and physical safeguards are used to protect personal data. Data security and privacy are intertwined. Names, addresses, phone numbers, professions, families, interests, and other personal information can usually be found in a variety of places, including schools, colleges, banks, directories, surveys, and numerous websites. When such information is shared to interested parties, it might result in privacy invasions such as constant commercial calls.