Any issue is assessed in context of circumstances that went into its making. And, it is widely acknowledged that examining an issue in isolation from circumstances surrounding it, is both unscientific and potentially disastrous. In using technology to mitigate Covid pandemic, the fine divide between personal privacy and public interest bears significance. Interestingly, the controversies raised thrown up around use of technology to combat Covid in state, makes no mention of that fundamental problem. The picture, now more clearly, points to wishful thinking that took shape among a few individuals to tear apart government’s credibility at a point when 8 lakh people were forecast to be potentially infected with the virus, requiring 80,000 people to be ventilated and all the manpower at disposal to handle the crisis.
In the storm kicked up around Sprinklr, one aspect calls for special attention. No IT company claimed a similarly effective or better application to provide timely analysis and accurate data on Covid-19 spread and provide interactive information on par with Sprinklr. That’s not to say developing such software would be impossible, rather that there wasn’t another to go for at that crisis point. The right thing to do in times of an emergency is to get hold of the best possible software, tackle the situation and consider developing an indigenous one later.
On the aspect of software flexibility, one common example Richard Stallman often quotes is that of a readymade shirt. The state of using a readymade software is similar to that of having your own shirt but no freedom to unstitch and customize it to your measurement, he had said. Right now, we are faced with a situation where wearing a shirt is an absolute emergency without having time to buy the fabric, find the tailor or have it fashioned. This having been the situation, even with the likelihood of a few snags, we are left with just one option – buy a readymade shirt from the market. Of course, after addressing the immediate need, we can shop for fabric, hunt down a tailor and have a more suitable shirt crafted.
However, with the readymade shirt on hand, it would be disastrous to allow a few people to overwhelm the society with propaganda that, we don’t need to wear a shirt at all. Without means to procure data, its analysis and forecasts it is impossible to cope up with extraordinary circumstances of this magnitude. Unprecedented situations call for exploring untapped avenues. In fact, lockdown offers time to countries of the world to explore them. The issue assumes greater significance given that the infection and death rate was on rise despite nationwide lockdown in India.
Containing this dreadful pandemic requires that once an infected person is identified, solution ranging from what kind of treatment is to be administered to which would be the nearest hospital facility and the ambulance to reach the person there, all appears on the screen at a single click of button. When ferrying a patient from one hospital to another, to find an ICU with room and ventilator free , could mean spread of the infection from that one person to hundred others, having real-time data for quick analysis in an absolutely must preventive.
How secretive is then data stored for this purpose ? Well, Indian Constitution did not declare personal privacy as a fundamental right. However, the Supreme Court in a slew of judgments upheld that personal privacy was an integral part of fundamental right to live. The concept was underlined vividly in Puttuswamy case. However even in that, the court fell short of implementing the right in absolute terms. Later in 2019, the apex court in its ruling on Ritesh Singh case clarified that right to privacy was subject to public interest. That case had challenged analysis of the petitioner’s voice which he said, infringed his right to privacy. Puttuswamy’s case hinged on the question if the doctor who diagnosed a man with HIV could divulge the medical status to the patient’s wife. The court held that the doctor can do so as, withholding a husband’s HIV status from his wife would breach the latter’s right to live.
How much more contagious and dreadful is Covid-19 in comparison to HIV ? In other words, the pace of Coronavirus spread is so rapid that the infection when diagnosed in a person is not his malady alone, rather it is a potential contagion to dozens of others. Similarly, wearing mask is not a matter of personal choice any more rather, it has become a collective need of all people who would come in proximity to that person. In short, the medical status of a person becomes public domain in the interest of protecting both that particular individual and others. How fallacious is then the argument that health details of an individual should be sought and analysed only with due consent from him ?
CPI(M)’s commitment to secure right to privacy does not mean essential information shall not be shared in larger public interest. The party has endorsed this stand on Aadhaar issue. However data should not be used for commercial interests and right to privacy should stay guarded for normal matters. It is heartening to see that Congress that failed to pass Aadhaar Bill for lack of legal backing and BJP that passed it later after morphing it into money bill, now backs CPI(M) on the issue.
We should be willing to accept that much of the things we do today are not entirely private. A smart phone user leaves a trail of locations he has visited. Think about who is leaking what when a Google search app allows one to pin point where a particular air ticket holder is at any given point of his journey ? People who fret over Covid data leak include those who use health mobile apps, feeding their ailment details and without wondering how these apps bring to screen an array of hospitals they could likely treat their condition. Everybody has their privacy, a reason why we place a tick on right to privacy in agreement to digital applications. In doing so, we empower them with right to the details we provide on ourselves. The Centre’s much-hyped Aarogya Setu too has its privacy policy that when ticked, translates into nod for any change in policy they might bring about at a later date!
As prelude to using a computer and the numerous applications on it, the user ends up signing a spate of international agreements. Each time you tick at “I Agree” on the screen, you are in effect entering into a contractual agreement and mostly overseas. It is amusing to see some people creating ruckus over ‘international agreement’ while they routinely engage in contracting similar ones themselves. The court’s question if it were possible to run up to New York for signing agreement, too incidentally came up via zoom mode digitally. For disputes within the agreement in question, it is true that the jurisdiction falls under a court in California or some arbitration association in America. Incidentally, those criticising fail to remember how jurisdiction of the signatory to an agreement is not binding on the other. After a propaganda exercise claiming one would have to sprint to New York at a later point, these individuals filed a case on the issue in Kerala High Court and had it heard too! And yet, some feign ignorance on the jurisdiction even now.
Getting back to the overhanging pandemic, the need of the hour is to collect data in time and use the analysis and forecasts thereof and use them in responses to public health and safety. If unusual remedies are not hit upon in unusual circumstance, human lives in large numbers would be lost. If there is a scenario where a one could die from suffocation, the room should be ventilated by opening the door, though it might mean letting in a few flies or mosquitoes. Similarly, personal privacy should be set aside it be for a greater public cause, here saving human lives.
P. Rajeev
