Hi Friends,

Even as I launch this today ( my 80th Birthday ), I realize that there is yet so much to say and do. There is just no time to look back, no time to wonder,"Will anyone read these pages?"

With regards,
Hemen Parekh
27 June 2013

Now as I approach my 90th birthday ( 27 June 2023 ) , I invite you to visit my Digital Avatar ( www.hemenparekh.ai ) – and continue chatting with me , even when I am no more here physically

Wednesday 19 July 2017

#RighttoPrivacy ! Thank You Your Honours !


Thank you Your Honours ,

Thank you for taking time out to read my following E mail sent to you supremecourt@nic.in ], yesterday morning .



Today’s Hindustan Times [ 20 July ], carries following report :


“ Right to Privacy isn’t absolute, observes the Supreme Court “

A rare 9-judge bench of the Supreme Court said the  RIGHT TO PRIVACY IS NOT ABSOLUTE, making its first observations on Wednesday as it began hearing on an issue that could have a sweeping impact on issues such as the Aadhaar scheme and the law criminalising homosexuality.

The bench began the process to decide if privacy can be regarded as a fundamental right guaranteed to all Indians, a question that arose from the legal challenge to the Aadhaar programme that activists say impinges on the right to privacy.

“ If privacy is about right to make a choice, then choice in what areas ?  Family, sexual orientation, gender identity, surveillance, what all? ”  , it observed.

In addition to the Section 377 case, the SC’s ruling on privacy will impact a case against mobile communication application WhatsApp in which petitioners have opposed its policy to share user data with its parent Facebook.

 ‘ NEED TO DEFINE PRIVACY ’
During the hearing the bench felt that right to privacy was too “amorphous” a term and said that to recognise privacy as a definite right, it had to first define it.

How do we  DEFINE  privacy ?

What are its CONTENTS  ?

Its  CONTOURS  ? 

How can the State  REGULATE  privacy ?

What  OBLIGATIONS  does the State have to PROTECT a person’s privacy ? ”  

Justice Chandrachud asked the lawyers representing petitioners in Aadhaar case.

AN ATTEMPT TO DEFINE THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY MAY CAUSE  MORE HARM THAN GOOD, the bench said.

The observations may or may not be a part of the court’s final ruling.

Justice Chandrachud also posed several questions on data protection in the age of social media, saying ,

·         SOCIAL MEDIA  did not exist when the  CONSTITUTION  was made.

·         IF PEOPLE HAVE PUT THEMSELVES IN THE PUBLIC REALM USING TECHNOLOGY, IS THAT NOT A SURRENDER OF THEIR RIGHT TO PRIVACY?,” the judge said, asking if right to privacy is non-negotiable.

Senior advocate Shyam Divan placed before the bench a statement made by a minister in March admitting privacy was “probably a fundamental right” and “part of individual liberty.”

Divan said in the internet age, one should have the right of  “ informational self-determination ”. “ I should know how much I should put forward and not be compelled,” he submitted.

He complained there was hardly any data protection in this digital age, leading to a compromise in privacy.

Former solicitor general Gopal Subramanium said right to liberty and lead a life of dignity includes the right to privacy.

“The right to liberty means the right to make personal choices, the right to develop one’s personality, one’s aura, one’s thinking and actions, the freedom of religion and conscience, the freedom to believe or not believe,” he told the bench, which will continue hearing the case on Thursday.


Thank you Your Honours ;

Thank you for making me , a  “ party ( in absentia ) to the on-going litigation “

My humble submission :

·         If those who drafted our Constitution in 1947 , could not have foreseen the CONTOURS that SOCIAL MEDIA will acquire in 2017 , it was understandable

·         But in 2017 , when 10 year old children are coding Mobile Apps employing Virtual Reality / Augmented Reality / Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Neural Networks / Hepatic Interfaces / Holographic Projections etc , would anyone understand if lawyers / jurists ( of this Software Super Power , India ), decided to bury their heads in the sand , hoping that they will , somehow escape getting buried under the inevitable Sand Storm of TECHNOLOGY ?


20  July  2017


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