Group 8: Privacy in public, private and secret lives

Right to Privacy:

 “All human beings have three lives: public, private and secret.”

-Gabriel Garcia Marquez

“Historically, Privacy was almost implicit, because it was hard to find and gather information. But in the digital world, whether it is digital, camera’s satellites or just what you click on, we need to have more explicit rules not just for the govt. but for private companies” – Bill Gates.

These devices have further expediated the need to clearly define the boundaries of our public, private and secret lives.

Taking the Aadhar policy as an example, we see that there is an immediate need to protect the privacy of the Indian Citizens taking into consideration, the streamlining of government policies of identification into such an electronic based format. This has introduced the danger of infringement of the private lives of the society.

These possible infringements should have set limitations in law and be substantiated by a justifiable cause explaining the need for such an infringement.

Said “justifications” should be proposed considering a balance of the right to privacy of the individual such that they do not infringe the rights of another, or be detrimental to the society.

Also, there needs to be laws securing such electronic identifications so as to prevent cyber terrorists from accessing the private lives and details of the people at large.

Furthermore, the judgement saying that the right to privacy is a part of the fundamental right to life and liberty can also be set parallel to the Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights (UDHR). The resolution 68/167, by the third committee of the United Nations General Assembly, Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee (SOCHUM) also lays out certain pre-requisites that a state may consider whilst the formation of more assertive legal framework for Right to Privacy, rather than a mere interpretation which is entailed with loopholes that could be exploited by a third-party.

In order to balance these considerations, the judiciary needs a clear and contemporary outlook to the current scenario in the public and private sphere.

Therefore, it requires a grasp of dictionaries, foreign and ‘non-lawyer’ sources, even poetry get to a more holistic judgement.