‘Privacy policy on hold till data protection bill comes into force’

New Delhi, Jul 09 (PTI): WhatsApp LLC told the Delhi High Court on Friday that till the data protection bill comes into force, it will not compel users to opt for its new privacy policy as it has been put on hold and will implement it “if Parliament allows it”.
WhatsApp clarified before bench of Chief justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh that it would not limit the functionality for users who are not opting for new privacy policy in the meantime.
Appearing for the instant messaging platform, Senior Advocate Harish Salve said, “We voluntarily agreed to put it (the policy) on hold… We will not compel people to accept.”
Salve said that WhatsApp would nonetheless continue to display the update to its users.
In response to Salve’s submission, the court observed that even though the implementation had been put on hold, the policy still continued to exist.
You are not implementing it but the policy is with you and any day it can come, the court said.
Salve reiterated that the approach would be maintained till the data protection bill becomes the law.
Commitment is that I will do nothing till the Parliament’s law comes in. If Parliament allows it, I will have it. If it doesn’t, bad luck… I’ve taken it off till the Parliament makes a law. Either we fit in or we don’t, Salve said.
The Personal Data Protection Bill seeks to regulate the use of individual’s data by the government and private companies. The Joint Committee of Parliament examining the Bill has been given extension till the monsoon session to submit its report.
The court was hearing the appeals of Facebook and its firm WhatsApp against the single-judge order refusing to stop the competition regulator CCI’s order directing a probe into WhatsApp’s new privacy policy.
Last month, an application was moved by WhatsApp for interim stay on the probe.
Salve argued that since the genesis of the probe -the privacy policy – has been stalled for now, the inquiry into the same by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) had become academic.
Objectionable part was ‘take it or leave it’. For present, ‘take it or leave it’ is something we are not doing. Opt in, opt out is not there. Everybody is using, he said.
He also urged the court to grant WhatsApp time till the end of July to respond to the questionnaire sent by CCI to it in relation to the inquiry.