ISLAMA BATH: With cybersecurity a major source of concern, Science and Technology Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said his ministry was considering enacting a strong data protection law to protect citizens’ privacy.
His comments come Sunday in response to the new WhatsApp privacy policy that makes it possible to share consumers’ sensitive information. The new policy requires users to share personal data such as location, IP addresses, operating systems, information about how subscribers interact with each other, and even information about mobile networks and mobile devices such as the IMEI number.
The new terms of service, which take effect on February 8 in a month, come under the condition that if users refuse to share data with Facebook, they must leave WhatsApp.
WhatsApp started announcing its notifications about app updates earlier this week, claiming that there was a change in its terms of service and privacy policy. The users were informed that the application would rather handle their data differently due to the new partnership with Facebook.
“And it is particularly disturbing that these new conditions do not apply to subscribers in the US, UK and Europe,” the federal science and technology minister said Dawn describe the new policy as ‘discriminatory’.
Mr Hussain said cyber security was a major concern and that his ministry was taking initiatives to protect the personal data of subscribers.
He argued that instead of following a ‘one-sided’ approach, such policy changes should be made after wider consultation.
WhatsApp may have claimed that they would allow other sister organizations such as Facebook to access certain users’ information for advertising purposes. But once encryption is removed, WhatsApp’s affiliates will have access to all subscriber information, ”the minister explained.
According to a senior official of the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA), users are likely to see ads in the future such as during videos on YouTube and other social media platforms.
He said, however, that it was too early for the PTA to respond, which is still assessing the new policy and how it will affect users.
According to the official, most of the information that WhatsApp gives other organizations access to is ‘sensitive data and therefore worrying’.
“None of the information from users that WhatsApp now wants to pass on to other businesses was allowed in its previous privacy policy,” he said, adding that the social media platform Facebook bought WhatsApp in 2014.
While WhatsApp has responded to widespread criticism from information technology experts that their privacy and personal information would be compromised, WhatsApp has maintained that personal chats will remain end-to-end encrypted and that no third party can read them. . The update did not change the practice of WhatsApp data sharing with Facebook and did not affect the way people communicated privately with friends or family.
Internet activist Nighat Dad, who runs a non-profit organization, Digital Rights Foundation, shared the federal minister’s concerns. “It is worrying that the new conditions will not apply to EU countries,” she said.
‘Facebook already has access to a lot of our personal information, but that’s OK because it was an informed decision. But what about everyone around the world who, for privacy reasons or for whatever reason, does not use Facebook and only WhatsApp? ‘It makes us wonder why WhatsApp needs information, such as the model of our cell phones, our local phone numbers and our location to name some important data that they are now going to ask for under the new circumstances,’ she said.
She also feared that in the future Pakistan would come up with its own laws to protect consumers ‘data, which she called as draconian as the Pakistan Electronic Act of Act (PECA), which endangers users’ personal data.
Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2021