The Meghalaya High Court has directed the developers of Corontine App and Stay Safe Meghalaya App to carry out thorough inquiry in respect of alleged violation of privacy and ensure that any private or personal data collected from the citizens who have used the two apps are not misused or disseminated in any manner.
In an order passed today, the division bench of Chief Justice Biswanath Somadder and Justice Hamarsan Sing Thangkhiew directed the developers of the two mobile apps to adhere to all privacy protocols that are now in place in Meghalaya as well as in India.
The order was passed by the court on the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by a citizen of the State, Jade Jeremiah Lyngdoh who alleged that privacy of the citizens – particularly those residing in Meghalaya – was being compromised due to lack of protection of personal sensitive data of those citizens collected by means of the two apps.
While disposing the PIL, the High Court stated that data privacy safeguards are sine qua non for the purpose of protecting the privacy of citizens, particularly when an ‘app’ such as a Corontine App or a Stay Safe Meghalaya App is required to be installed by a citizen at the instance of the State.
“Although it appears during the course of hearing of the instant matter that these two apps have been discontinued, it is the bounden duty, nay, an absolute obligation on the part of the concerned authority of the State to preserve, protect and safeguard the private and personal data of its citizens so that someone somewhere does not breach the walls of privacy and utilize the private and personal data of the citizens collected by these two apps’ for such purposes other than the specific purpose for which the two apps were created,” the High Court said.
It may be noted that the Meghalaya government has utilised the Corontine App developed by a team at IIT Bombay along with some professional and experienced alumni to help in tracking the potential or suspected asymptomatic carriers of coronavirus if they leave their quarantine zone.
The Corontine App is installed on the mobile of asymptomatic carriers by an authorised agency. The App sends GPS coordinates of the mobiles periodically to a server under the supervision of authorised agency. If a user leaves a specified quarantined zone marked by a geo-fence, it will be auto-detected.
Similarly, Meghalaya government has used another App known as Stay Safe Meghalaya to monitor the movement of people who are advised to be in home quarantine.
Once downloaded, the App automatically captures the location of the individual and identifies those individuals who may have moved beyond a threshold distance from their home location.
