The recent Facebook episode has once again brought to centrestage the need for addressing the directions as to where we are heading towards, in terms of development of appropriate jurisprudence regarding your personal data on Internet 2.0 websites.
A couple of days back, Facebook, a very popular social networking site, quietly decided to change its terms of service. This has created a huge uproar in the Internet community. There was such heated debate at Facebook?s proposed changes and it has temporally withdrawn the new amended terms and conditions of service. However, this is a watershed development in Internet 2.0 legal landscape.
This is possibly for the first time that a major social networking site like Facebook has chosen to move to the direction where ultimately Internet 2.0 websites are aiming to go. It is no secret that today Internet 2.0 websites and social networking sites are repositories of personal, professional, confidential and other related data belonging to users. This is data and information in the electronic form which is uploaded on these social networking sites by users on their own free will and volition.
Initially, this was meant to only facilitate and further collaboration and exchange of information, thought processes and feelings and communication channels. However, with each passing day ,as new users get logged on to the social networking sites, the amount of data that is being hosted on the said social networking sites is continuing to grow at an amazing speed. This data suddenly has become a very attractive proposition in generation of new money and revenue possibilities. This is so because the said data can be utilised by companies for a variety of purposes, including for data mining, data harvesting and sharing it with business partners, including on related campaigns, and many other uses which cannot be comprehensively listed.
However, in case if the Internet 2.0 companies are successful in driving the jurisprudence to the direction that the data of users is their own data, I believe, this is going to spell disaster for privacy and other civil liberties of individual netizens. This is so because a netizen implicitly puts all his confidential, personal, private or corporate data in the implicit faith that this data belongs to him and that this data can be shared by him with his own group of people or communication channels.
But at no point of time does any user ever have any intention voluntarily or by specific act or deed to give the ownership of the said data to the social networking website. If the social networking websites want to unscrupulously obtain the ownership of the said data, then the same is likely to create a lot of legal problems. Not only is it going to erode the hrust of netizens? community in this entire social networking phenomenon, but is also going to spell disaster in terms of protection and preservation of personal spaces, professional privacy and data privacy.
The recent uproar against Facebook over its terms has been successful in preventing the said changes that the relief is only temporary. Social networking sites will continue to move in the direction, directly or indirectly, to obtain the ownership, control, possession and absolute unfettered usage of such data for their own vested monetary or other considerations. I believe that existing laws needs to be interpreted in a manner that social networking sites cannot assume ownership of the said personnel data. This is so because the said personal data is third party information and does not belong to the ownership of the said social networking site or Internet 2.0 site.
This position of law gets clearer by various provisions of different legislations. India has also a made remarkable step in this direction. Indian cyberlaw considers these social networking and Internet 2.0 websites as mere intermediaries or network service providers who are providing various kinds of services on the Internet. These network service provider or intermediaries are dealing with third party data. The law has stipulated the liability of the social networking sites for all third party data in certain specified events.
Thus the law by its very drafting and its clear language specifically stipulates that the ownership of the said third party data cannot vest with the said intermediaries. I believe, the same is the correct and prudent legal approach to follow. In case the social networking sites are able to usurp the ownership of personal data, it will suddenly put into a tizzy and complete dissarray all existing laws pertaining to privacy of data and personal privacy existing in various jurisdictions.
While social networking sides and intermediaries need to be encouraged to look at new business models of how to sustain their businesses, yet no business model should be legally permitted on commercial exploitation of personal data of netizens.
Also when social networking sites are dealing with third party data, they cannot without any consultation or debate with their user community, go ahead and unilaterally change the terms and conditions of the service.
I believe that the new Facebook episode needs to be a standing reminder to all Internet 2.0 sites that they need to be very careful while dealing with third party data.
?The author is president, Cyberlaws.net and an advocate, Supreme Court of India