The Supreme Court on Thursday raised questions regarding the sharing of personal data of the internet users to private companies such as Apple.
The questions from the Bench came on the second day of the hearing on the reference whether the right to privacy is an inviolable fundamental right under the Constitution.
According to an NDTV report, during the hearing Justice DY Chandrachud said, "When one can share personal data with private players like Apple, why not share it with the government? What's the difference?"
"99% of the people are unconcerned and not aware of the purpose for which data is collected," NDTV reported quoting Chandrachud, one of nine judges determining if citizens' privacy is a constitutional right.
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On the contrary, Sajan Poovayya, the lawyer for the petitioners argued, "I have a contract with private parties - if they breach it, I can sue them. But there is no contract with the government.”
The hearing on the right to privacy began yesterday as a group of petitioners brought the case to protest against the government's Aadhaar programme, which has recorded the fingerprints and iris scans of more than a billion citizens.
The petitioners had questioned the Aadhaar exercise; whether the informed consent of the citizens were taken before parting with their personal details and whether there was information given to people about how and where their personal data would be used. Finally, the government had not specified then in a statutory law, where the data would be protectively stored.
