WhatsApp says it has put new privacy policy on hold
WhatsApp today told the Delhi High Court it would neither force users to accept its controversial new privacy policy nor limit functionality of the messaging service for those who choose not to accept its terms. The company would maintain this approach until the Indian government passes the Data Protection Bill, which specifies how such data should be processed. Here are more details on this.
"We voluntarily agreed to put it (the policy) on hold...We will not compel people to accept," advocate Harish Salve, representing WhatsApp, told the court. The company would, however, continue to display updates about the new privacy policy. "We will continue to remind users from time to time about the update...We will maintain this approach until at least the forthcoming PDP law comes into effect."
Salve further told the court that if the new law is passed by the Parliament and does not permit such a policy, WhatsApp would either shut business in India or would not implement it. "If Parliament allows me to have a separate policy for India, I will have it. If it does not allow me...I will then have to take a call," he said.
The court was hearing an appeal filed by WhatsApp and its parent company Facebook against the Competition Commission of India's (CCI) ongoing probe into the said privacy policy. The policy has drawn criticism over potential violation of users' privacy and the sharing of user data with Facebook. The policy was initially supposed to come into effect in February, but government intervention delayed that deadline.
The Delhi High Court had earlier refused to stay the CCI probe into WhatsApp's privacy policy. The CCI had, in March, come to a prima facie conclusion that the conduct of WhatsApp seemed unfair to its users, and ordered the Director General (DG) to complete the investigation within 60 days. WhatsApp notably has more than 500 million (50 crore) users in India.
Separately, in May, WhatsApp had filed a suit in the Delhi High Court against the Indian government's new IT rules. It said the government's demand to identify the "first originator of information" would break its encryption system, thus violating the users' constitutional right to privacy.
