Model Answer

Privacy is an individual’s right to control access to personal information, identity and private life. In K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017), the Supreme Court recognised privacy as a fundamental right. Digital technologies have expanded privacy concerns beyond traditional State surveillance.

Major Privacy Concerns

1. State surveillance can enable large-scale monitoring of individuals. e.g: Facial recognition and biometric surveillance.
2. Private data collection by digital platforms can create detailed behavioural profiles of users.
3. Doxxing exposes personal information such as addresses or phone numbers, threatening safety and dignity.
4. Deepfakes can misuse an individual’s face or voice without consent. e.g: AI-generated impersonation and morphed images.
5. Data breaches can expose sensitive financial, health and identity information.
6. Algorithmic profiling can enable targeted manipulation or discriminatory decision-making.
7. Diffuse surveillance makes accountability difficult when data flows across governments, companies and technology vendors.

Challenges in Protecting Privacy

1. Consent fatigue makes meaningful informed consent difficult.
2. Technological advancement often outpaces regulation.
3. Cross-border data flows complicate enforcement and accountability.
4. Security-privacy balance creates legitimate tensions between individual rights and national security.

Way Forward

1. Implement strong data-protection safeguards with effective regulatory oversight.
2. Ensure surveillance satisfies legality, necessity and proportionality.
3. Strengthen platform accountability and rapid remedies against doxxing and deepfakes.
4. Promote privacy-by-design and greater digital awareness among citizens.

Privacy protection today requires more than controlling State surveillance. India needs an accountable digital ecosystem that protects personal data, dignity and autonomy while accommodating legitimate security needs.