Pratibha Singh, Sandeep Sethi appear in challenge to WhatsApp’s privacy rules

The Delhi High Court has issued notice to the Department of Telecommunications, and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India in a challenge to messaging service provider WhatsApp’s new privacy policy..Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal issued notice yesterday in a PIL filed by final-year law student Shreya Sethi, and engineering student Karmanya Singh Sareen. The petitioners have challenged the recent change in WhatsApp’s user policies that would allow social media giant, and WhatsApp’s owner, Facebook to access WhatsApp user data..The petition has impleaded the Union of India, Whatsapp Inc., Facebook India Online Services Pvt. Ltd., its parent company Facebook, and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India..The petitioners, represented by senior counsel Sandeep Sethi and Pratibha Singh, argued that WhatsApp had initially claimed total privacy for its users. This, as per the petitioners, was one of the key features that led to WhatsApp’s growth; in February this year, WhatsApp claimed it was used by one billion people across the world. In October of 2014, the company was acquired by Facebook for $19 billion. .The petition also attacks the manner in which consent has been sought over the new policies, stating that the majority of Indian Whatsapp users would be unable to comprehend the terms and conditions laid down by the messaging service. The petition further claims that the rights of Indian user is being “compromised” by the new policy, and there is an urgent need to regulate the service so as to protect the private data of Indian citizens..The matter will now come up on September 14.