CAIT Insists Government to Restrict WhatsApp from implementing its New Privacy Policy
By: Ashwathy Nair
- All kinds of personal data of WhatsApp users will be acquired and can be used by WhatsApp for any purpose.
- The new policy can carry a serious threat to the economy and security of the country.
- CAIT demands the immediate intervention of the government on the matter.
On Sunday, the body of traders, CAIT wrote to Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Information and Technology insisting that the government should restrict or impose a ban on the messaging app, WhatsApp and its parent company, Facebook from applying its new privacy policy.
It is claimed by the CAIT (Confederation of All India Traders) that through the new privacy policy, “all kinds of personal data of WhatsApp users such as payment transactions, location, contacts, and other vital pieces of information will be acquired by WhatsApp and it can be used by them for any purpose.”
CAIT claimed that “WhatsApp should be immediately constrained from applying its new policy, or the government should ban WhatsApp and its Facebook parent company.”
In India, CAIT claimed that “Facebook has users over 200 million and letting WhatsApp accessing every user’s data can lead to a serious threat not only to the economy but also to the country’s security.”
On the other hand, in an email, responding to PTI, A spokesperson of WhatsApp stated that “In order to further increase transparency, the privacy policy has been updated to describe that the businesses that are going forward can choose to receive secure hosting services to help manage their communications with their customers on WhatsApp from the parent company Facebook.”
“However, it will be remaining up to the customers whether they are willing to communicate with a business on WhatsApp.”
It was further stated by the spokesperson that the update on privacy policy does not change data sharing practice of WhatsApp with Facebook and it would not impact on how people privately communicate with friends or family wherever they are in the world.
“WhatsApp will remain deeply committed to preserving people’s privacy. Direct communication with users through WhatsApp regarding these changes are happening so that they can review the new policy over the course of the next month.”
An email that was sent to Facebook for seeking comment on the issue did not manage to respond.
The Secretary-General of CAIT, Praveen Khandelwal stated that “WhatsApp’s changed privacy policy is like a violation on the privacy of an individual and it runs against the basic fundamentals of Constitution of India and therefore the CAIT is demanding an immediate interference of the government on the matter.”
