New Delhi: The union government has responded to the lawsuit filed by popular social media messaging app, WhatsApp. The the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has made it clear that the government respects the right to privacy. But the right to privacy is not an unlimited right and will come with reasonable restrictions.
WhatsApp has approached the Delhi High Court on May 25 accusing that the new IT Act passed by the union government violates right to privacy. WhatsApp accused that the new IT rules would require messaging services to “trace” the origin of particular messages.
“It is very important to note that such an order, to trace first originator, under Rule 4(2) of the said guidelines shall be passed only for the purposes of prevention, investigation, punishment etc. of inter alia an offence relating to sovereignty, integrity and security of India, public order incitement to an offence relating to rape, sexually explicit material or child sexual abuse material punishable with imprisonment for not less than five years,” the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said in a statement .
“The Government of India is committed to ensure the Right of Privacy to all its citizens but at the same time it is also the responsibility of the government to maintain law and order and ensure national security. None of the measures proposed by India will impact the normal functioning of WhatsApp in any manner whatsoever and for the common users, there will be no impact”, said Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
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“Whether Right to Privacy is ensured through using encryption technology or some other technology is entirely the purview of the social media intermediary. It is WhatsApp’s responsibility to find a technical solution, whether through encryption or otherwise, that both happen”, added the Union Minister.
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