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Privacy in times of Corona : Problems with publication of personal data of Covid-19 victims
Read more on - Polity | Economy | Schemes | S&T | Environment
- These are unprecedented times for independent India perhaps the last time such global panic and fear prevailed was during the World Wars.
- Covid-19 has affected more than 4,25,000 people across the world and has claimed over 19,000 lives.
- The virus was late to arrive in India, with the first case reported only on January 30, 2020. Now the total number of affected persons as per official records is over 600, whereas the death toll is said to be at 13.
- The State of Karnataka presumably in good faith on March 24 has published an online database of persons who have been infected with Covid-19 or are in quarantine, with their personal residential addresses. This database has since then been circulated on social media and instant messaging platforms and reportedly contains details of more than 14,000 persons from Bangalore alone.
- In contrast, the State of Kerala which was amongst the earliest hit Indian states, has protected the data pertaining to those under treatment for Covid-19 citing issues of privacy.
- This throws up an important question given the State's determination to prevent the community spread of Covid-19 : What happens to 'Privacy' in times of Corona?
- The Right to Privacy has been recognised as a cardinal part of our Fundamental Rights by the apex court in Puttaswamy I and reinforced in Puttaswamy II. This right is not absolute and can be fettered by the State strictly according to the Constitutional mandate.
- It has been explained in the Puttaswamy judgments that, "whenever challenge is laid to an action of the State on the ground that it violates he right to privacy, the action of the State is to be tested on the following parameters -
- the action must be sanctioned by law;
- the proposed action must be necessary in a democratic society for a legitimate aim; and
- the extent of such interference must be proportionate to the need for such interference."
- The step taken by the State of Karnataka in publishing the names and the residential addresses of the people infected by Covid-19 and those that have been quarantined, has prima facie infringed on the Right to Privacy of those citizens. The question that arises then is whether this measure can withstand Constitutional scrutiny as per the tests laid down by the Supreme Court in Puttaswamy.
- The breach of a citizen's privacy, to be valid, must be sanctioned by a law that has been passed by the legislature. On perusing the relevant laws including The Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, and The National Disaster Management Act, 2005 there seems to be no legal provision which provides for the personal data of the victims to be uploaded on a public database.
- This preliminary illegality notwithstanding, the State's action also falls foul of the test of proportionality.
- This action of the State of Karnataka presumably has a legitimate goal in mind, i.e. to curb and control the spread of Covid-19 by minimising person to person contact. Given that the State's main objective is that the people who have tested positive for Covid-19 do not come in contact with other people, it would seem that bodily branding and identification of homes completely achieved the said objective , and the publication of a database of victims is wholly excessive.
- A place where infected patients, quarantines persons, even doctors and nurses treating Covid-19 are reportedly facing hate, abuse and discrimination. This makes the Covid-19 patients and those in quarantine, their families and friends increasing vulnerable.
- Living in an era where information uploaded for public consumption on the internet is almost never capable of being completely removed, the personal information of those in quarantine for Covid-19 will outlive the present crisis and remain in the public domain. What then happens to the right of these persons to be forgotten on the internet, and what happens to their identity once it is reduced to an entry on a stigmatized database? Stigma, as we know from history, tends to far outweigh rationality and sagacity, and has a lifespan of its own.
- It is often the tendency of States to consider civil liberties as dispensable in times of crisis, war or emergency. Yet, in dealing with Covid-19, we must understand that civil liberties and rights are not at the mercy of the Executive.
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