In the last #PrivacyofthePeople post, we looked at the conflict between efficiency and privacy posed by the use of cookies that raise concerns about user privacy and data collection. In this post, we plan to examine whether the police can check your mobile phone devices even if you do not consent to it. Presently, there is no legal provision which would allow for such random checking of mobile phones. However, since the law is still trying to catch up to regulating new technology, old laws are being interpreted widely to allow police officials to gain access to our devices. Here, even the pending Data Protection Bill, 2021 (in its present form) fails to provide sufficient safeguards.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://internetfreedom.in/privacyofthepeople-phone-checking/