Leave WhatsApp & Use Some Other App, It’s Voluntary: Delhi HC On App’s Policy

Mumbai: Delhi High Court judge Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva on Monday told a petitioner who had filed a plea challenging WhatsApp’s new privacy policy, “Leave WhatsApp. Go to some other application. It’s a voluntary thing. Don’t accept it.”

Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva said to the petitioner, “This is a private app. Do not join it. It is a voluntary thing. Do not accept it. Use another app.”

The court also said that if the terms and conditions of most mobile apps are read, “you will wonder what you are consenting to”.

“Even Google maps captures all your data and stores it,” the court said.

The court further said that it is not understood what data would be leaked according to the petitioner and since the issue needs to be considered, it will be listed on Monday 25 January due to lack of time.

The central government also agreed with the court that the issue needs to be analyzed.

WhatsApp and Facebook submitted by senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Mukul Rohatgi told the court that the petition was not maintainable and many of the issues raised were without any basis.

He further told the court that private chat messages between family and friends would remain encrypted and could not be stored by WhatsApp and this situation would not change under the new policy.

He said that the change in policy would affect commercial chat on WhatsApp.

A lawyer has said in the petition that the updated privacy policy violates the right to privacy under the constitution.

The plea claims that WhatsApp’s new privacy policy allows full access to a user’s online activity without any supervision by the government.

Under the new policy, users can accept it or exit the app, but they can choose not to share their data with other Facebook-owned or third-number apps.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and like us on Facebook for the latest updates and interesting stories.x