Open Access Research Article
DIGITIZATION AND VIOLATION OF THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY
Published Paper
Article Details
DIGITIZATION
AND VIOLATION OF THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY
AUTHORED BY - SHIVANGI
We currently live in the 21st
century where the online forum rules the world. In every sphere of work, from
Software, Law, Design, Marketing and Sales, Manufacturing, and Media,
digitization reigns over all. Some countries, like Japan, are flourishing due
to digitization, with their whole society reliant on digitalized machines and
sources. The majority of restaurants and office buildings in China are operated
by manual robots that are programmed with the help of AI to do duties according
to the instructions coded into them. These are a few examples of large-scale
digitization in developed nations. Even in emerging or undeveloped countries,
digital media is an indispensable part of our everyday existence. Digital
platforms underpin everything from, paying online, connecting with people on
sites like LinkedIn, Tinder, and Instagram, and even buying stuff from Amazon.
Whether it's advanced countries or those still growing, digital technology greatly
impacts how we live and work.
This profound impact of digitization
on the contemporary world is undeniable and cannot be ignored. It has reached a
level were envisioning any task without incorporating digitization is nearly
inconceivable. The influence of digitization extends its transformative reach,
providing an indispensable framework for myriad activities. Moreover, it is
undeniably acknowledged that this technological revolution has not only
facilitated but also propelled businesses, ideas, and creative endeavours to
unprecedented heights, resulting in remarkable and awe-inspiring outcomes. The
current pace at which the world operates, with immense ease and speed, owes
much of its credit to digitization. This force has become an integral part of
the fabric of our daily lives, influencing and shaping various facets of
society. The acknowledgment of this reality is widely shared among the present
youth, who recognize the imperative need to acquire a nuanced understanding of
digitization and artificial intelligence (AI). The prevailing consensus
underscores the notion that these technological realms are poised to dominate
the majority of platforms in the foreseeable future. Within this evolving
landscape, individuals who are not well-versed in digitization and AI find
themselves at a disadvantage, facing potential challenges in securing a
foothold in various domains. The awareness among the youth underscores the
urgency for cultivating proficiency in these areas. Those who excel in this
area will end up being assets to companies and organizations. Progress
continues to be intertwined with digitization, and the imperative for
individuals to stay abreast of these transformative technologies becomes
increasingly evident.
Everything remains acceptable as long
as digitization serves as a supportive tool in tackling a wide range of
challenges and streamlining expansive and viable work processes. However,
concerns emerge when this instrumental role evolves into an authoritative and
pervasive presence across major domains and platforms. While the idea of
digitization assuming control over various issues may seem appealing, questions
regarding its credibility and trust come into the picture. As we increasingly
rely on digitization to address multiple challenges, there is a growing need
for an understanding of the reliability and authenticity of the digital world.
This necessitates a careful examination of the mechanisms in place to ensure
the integrity of digital processes, the security of data, and the transparency
of digital interactions. As we navigate the expanding influence of
digitization, it becomes imperative to establish robust frameworks that not
only harness its potential benefits but also ensure confidence in its
credibility, fostering a digital landscape that is both dependable and
trustworthy.
The digital world is vast, it is
huger than one can even imagine. It consists of millions of networks, each
interconnected with one another to form a linkage to work most efficiently and
try to have answers to everything one could ever imagine. But it is this
network one should also fear. We common people hardly have around 5% knowledge
about what the digital world works like. We search for news on Google, and we
blindly agree to give sites access to our media, and our history, basically
ending them having control of our phones. But what we don’t realize is that all
the data we give gets stored in this huge network, and it is very easy for this
information to spread widely and very quickly across this entire network.
People, and organizations who we have no clue about can get access to such
information. There is no control of the information once it is out there. We
have hackers, we have fraud sites, and we have online thieves having access to
such networks and can misuse this information once it reaches their hands.
And this is what one should be
fearful about. Here is where the question arises, is our privacy in the digital
world truly safe? The right to privacy is a human right for every individual
and that applies even in the digital platform. In 2018, a resolution titled
"The right to privacy in the digital age" was approved by the UN
General Assembly. The resolution's main argument was that anybody might feel
less free to speak or do anything they want when they know that their actions
or words could be intercepted. For this reason, the resolution called for
international attention to human rights.[1] In
the Indian Constitution, the right to privacy falls under the fundamental
rights of every individual as per Article 21. The Supreme Court in a landmark
judgment has recognized the right to privacy as a guaranteed fundamental right.
In its judgment, it also mentioned that “Technological change has given rise to
concerns which were not present seven decades ago and the rapid growth of
technology may render obsolescent many notions of the present. Hence the
interpretation of the Constitution must be resilient and flexible to allow
future generations to adapt its content bearing in mind its basic or essential
features[2].” The
Indian Parliament has also put forward, The Digital Personal Data Protection
Bill, 2023 whose aim is to provide for the processing of digital personal data in
a manner that recognizes both the right of individuals to protect their data
and the need to process such personal data for lawful purposes and matters
connected therewith or incidental thereto.[3]
The digital world has remarkably
succeeded in building a pervasive trust within us. Often, we find ourselves
unhesitatingly entering our personal information without a thorough
consideration of the potential repercussions. Engaging in digital interactions
becomes a routine of thoughtlessly ticking boxes to accept terms and
conditions, thereby offering a trove of details to the seemingly insentient
digital world, oblivious to the potential negative effects it could have on our
lives. The compulsion to divulge personal information has become inherent in
various aspects of our online activities – be it the creation of a Google
account or signing up on platforms like Instagram. Each interaction
necessitates a divulgence of a fragment of our identity. As we navigate through
this digital landscape, the challenge arises in maintaining a comprehensive
record of our actions. Despite exercising immense precautions and willingly
providing information, there remains an inherent uncertainty regarding the
safeguarding of our right to privacy. The ubiquity of this digital exchange
raises concerns about the perpetual vulnerability of our data and the
inevitability of its potential misuse in the absence of a foolproof guarantee
for our safety in the realm of privacy.
In the contemporary landscape, the
prevalence of cybersecurity breaches on digital platforms has increased in
number. There have been instances where we find our details exposed in the
expansive digital world, susceptible to unauthorized access. Advanced
technologies have further enabled systematic scrutiny of online conversations.
There is digital surveillance that acts as spy cameras, meticulously observing
every digital footprint we leave behind. It keeps track of our search
histories, keystrokes, and website visits, constructing a comprehensive profile
that shows our preferences. This online platform is an intricate network, which
is a silent observer secretly documenting every online move. The consequence of
this surveillance is particularly evident in fraudulent activities, often
involving illegal financial transactions from unsuspecting bank accounts.
Individuals, in these instances, may unknowingly share their details with
entities whose credibility remains dubious. Once it is out there, such
information becomes part of a network that is prone to exploitation, leading to
the emergence of fraudulent events.
Cybercrime attacks arose a long time
ago, almost 2 decades in the year 1994 cybercrime attacks occurred in Russia
where several corporate banks discovered that around $400,000 went missing. FBI
became involved in the case and it was discovered that the hackers had attacked
the institution’s cash management computer system, which allowed corporate
clients to move funds from their accounts into other banks around the world[4].
In January of 2021, approximately 8.4 billion passwords were leaked. It was
famously called the RockYou2021 attack. It was the largest breach the site had
suffered since 2009 where around 32 million accounts got leaked. In 2016, Yahoo
Inc., a prominent internet company, disclosed that information related to a
minimum of 500 million accounts had been compromised in the year 2014. The day
following the cyberattack, Yahoo witnessed a 3% decline in its stock price,
resulting in a loss of $1.3 billion in market capitalization. In India, it has
been calculated that a whopping Rs 10,319 crore was lost to online fraud from
January 2021 to December 2023. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)
reported that cybercrime cases have doubled in 2022 since 2021 in the national
capital, Delhi. It was reported that in 2023, the Indian Government had to
disconnect 5.5 million phone numbers that were obtained by using fake documents
and were fraudulent and involved in committing such crimes.
Everything in the digital world is
connected highlights the need for us to be more aware and take steps to protect
ourselves. This is crucial in reducing the risks that come with the increasing
range of online dangers. Statistical data shows that 3 billion Yahoo accounts had
been breached as of 2017, 1.1 billion have had Aadhar details violated as of
March 2018, 533 million Facebook users as of 2019, and many more. The largest
reported data leakage as of November 2023 was the Cam4 data breach in March
2020, which exposed more than 10 billion data records[5].
According to The Cisco Consumer Privacy Survey 2019, 45% of respondents
indicated that the federal government is responsible for protecting data
privacy. 24% of respondents find the individual user responsible for protecting
data privacy. 21% of respondents find that companies should be responsible for
protecting data privacy.[6]
While encouraging entrepreneurship
and innovation in the digital space is important, we also need to take action
to safeguard the privacy of our citizens. The most recent and well-known
example that can best explain such personal violation is the deep-fake video
that became viral all over the internet of a famous Indian actress. It affected
her immensely to the point she had to take to the internet to address the
situation and the harm it had caused her. Recently, Google, WhatsApp, Facebook,
and iPhone have been receiving numerous complaints regarding their policy of
digital privacy. All these platforms which offered social networking and
searching tabs for people ended up gathering personal information about them
through cookies and advertisement pop-ups on their sites. Google has recently
updated upon disabling a tracking technology in its Chrome web page. Facebook
has announced that hundreds of its engineers were developing a new technique
for displaying advertisements that wouldn't require users' personal
information. Apple and Google have begun updating the policies governing the
gathering of personal data online. Apple has released technologies that prevent
advertisers from monitoring users, claiming privacy as its guiding principle.
Google is attempting to have it both ways by reimagining the system to continue
targeting individuals with advertisements without abusing access to their
personal information[7].
Governments frequently fall short of
adequately informing the public about their surveillance initiatives. Even when
surveillance tools are initially introduced for legitimate purposes, they can
easily be repurposed for unintended objectives. States must restrict public
surveillance measures to those deemed "strictly necessary and
proportionate," targeting specific locations and times. Additionally, the
duration of data storage should be limited. It's crucial for countries
worldwide to quickly set up strong rules controlling the export of surveillance
technologies that could seriously threaten human rights. Additionally, these
nations need to carefully make sure that they enforce thorough assessments of
the impact on human rights. This means looking closely at what these technologies
can do and understanding the situation in the country receiving them. This
comprehensive approach is not just about strengthening oversight on potentially
harmful surveillance technologies but also emphasizes the importance of
understanding the specific factors that affect how these technologies impact
human rights in different parts of the world. By creating a solid system that
combines strict export controls with thorough impact assessments, countries can
actively prevent the potential misuse of such technologies, promoting a more
responsible and ethical global technological environment.[8]
The Cambridge Analytica and Facebook
scandal explains that social media companies should be subject to stricter laws
regarding their data handling and sharing practices. These companies maintain a
repository of millions of users' data, and the unethical use of this data can
give certain stakeholders undue influence over public opinion. In May 2018, the
European Union decided to enforce stronger safeguards for the personal
information of its residents. This was accomplished through the General Data
Protection Regulation, which unifies data protection rules throughout the EU
while allowing each member state to implement its modifications. All
businesses, regardless of location, that conduct business in the European Union
are subject to the GDPR. Additionally, Article 17 of the GDPR grants its
beneficiaries the "Right to be forgotten" by extending the scope of
its regulation beyond the gathering and processing of such data to the deletion
of such data.
As time unfolds, the challenge of
cybercrimes intensifies, propelled by the rapid evolution of new technologies
in the contemporary world. The attention and accelerating research towards the
field of artificial intelligence (AI) further exerts its substantial influence
and control over various businesses and activities. This intersection of AI and
cybersecurity not only amplifies the potential for safeguarding digital
landscapes but, paradoxically, provides a massive area for cybercriminals to conduct
their illicit activities. This escalating trend not only widens the scope but
also encourages the perpetration of illegal acts on an unprecedented scale. As
individuals, we must maintain a vigilant stance in discerning and promptly
reporting any instances of the potential misuse of digitization. The advent of
the COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in a predominant shift towards hybrid work
models for the majority of us, thereby increasing the risks within the
professional domain. Despite the existence of legal frameworks and proactive
measures undertaken by prominent organizations and governmental entities, the
collective responsibility falls upon all of us to actively participate in the
safeguarding and protection of personal information in the digital platform. In
the aftermath of the changes which has occurred from the pandemic, we find
ourselves facing an immense responsibility to exercise caution and
accountability in managing our online presence, ensuring a secure and resilient
digital landscape for ourselves and others.
[1] Right to privacy and data protection in
digital age: Possibility of Myth? India, available at: https://www.lawyersclubindia.com/
(Last Modified January 23rd 2024)
[2] Prachi Bhardwaj, Right to Privacy:
Landmark Supreme Court rulings & why a 9-judge bench decision is crucial, available
at: https://www.scconline.com/
(Last Modified January 23rd, 2024)
[3] Digital Personal Data Protection
Act 2023
[4] A Byte Out of History- $10 Million
Hack, 1994-Style, available at: https://www.fbi.gov/
(Last modified 24th January 2024)
[5] Most significant cases of data
breach worldwide as of August 2023, available at: https://www.statista.com/ (Last Modified
January 23rd, 2024)
[6] 100 Data Privacy and Data Security
statistics, available at: https://dataprivacymanager.net/
(Last Modified January 24th, 2024)
[7] Brian X. Chen, The Battle for
Digital Privacy Is Reshaping the Internet, available at: https://www.nytimes.com/ (Last Modified
January 24th 2024)
[8] Spyware and surveillance: Threats
to privacy and human rights growing, UN report warns, available at: https://www.ohchr.org/ (Last Modified January
23rd, 2024)
Article Information
DIGITIZATION AND VIOLATION OF THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY
Authors: SHIVANGI
- Journal IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
- Published 2024/02/23
- Issue 7
About Journal
International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis
- Abbreviation IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
- Access Open Access
- License CC 4.0
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