A growing shadow over digital constitutionalism, Pg8

Key Highlights:

• The central government revoked its order mandating mobile phone manufacturers to install the 'Sanchar Saathi' app by 2026, following widespread privacy concerns.
• Cybercrime cases in India increased from 15.9 lakh in 2023 to 20.4 lakh in 2024, prompting the initial push for the app as a safety measure.
• Digital constitutionalism is needed to extend constitutional principles into the digital space, threatened by data collection, AI, and surveillance.
• The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, intended to safeguard citizen data, has been criticized for broad governmental exemptions and weak individual remedies.

Detailed Insights:

• Digital constitutionalism aims to apply constitutional values like liberty, equality, and rule of law to the digital realm, countering threats from AI and surveillance technologies.
• Modern governance increasingly relies on automated processes for KYC, welfare distribution, and healthcare, often lacking transparency and individual consent.
• The concentration of power in tech designers, law enforcement, and private companies can turn citizens into passive data subjects rather than active right-holders.
• Surveillance has evolved into metadata gathering, location tracing, and biometric identification, potentially chilling free speech and disrupting democracies.
• The Supreme Court's Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) case affirmed the right to privacy as a basic right, highlighting the need for stronger data protection.
• Data-fication across sectors enhances efficiency but reduces personal control over information, with consent often becoming a routine "click-through" process.
• Facial recognition technologies, used in public spaces, have faced restrictions due to concerns about racial discrimination, surveillance, and false identification.
• Algorithmic failures can exclude deserving families from welfare schemes, and automated content moderation can silence legitimate voices, violating constitutional principles.
• India's legal system, including the Information Technology Act, 2000, is seen as inadequate for defending citizen liberties and privacy in the digital age.
• An independent digital rights commission is needed to inquire into violations and ensure accountability, along with stricter surveillance laws and algorithmic audits.
• Digital literacy is crucial for empowering individuals to critique and challenge digital power structures, ensuring that technology serves the people.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Digital Constitutionalism: The application of constitutional principles to protect rights and freedoms in the digital space.
• Surveillance: The monitoring of behavior, activities, or information for the purpose of influence, management, protection, or direction.
• Algorithms: A process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, especially by a computer.