The program consisted of interactive sessions covering various topics related to the Constitution, which provided the participants with a comprehensive understanding of the constitutional journey and its latest developments. Through panel discussions and guest lectures delivered by renowned constitutional scholars, legal experts, and practitioners, the participants gained insights into various aspects of the Indian Constitution, its history, and evolving nature.
In the enlightening speech delivered by Mr. Vikramjit Banerjee, Additional Solicitor General of India, wherein he spoke on the topic ‘Digital India and Constitutional Rights: Constitutional Provisions and Personal Data Security’, he reflected on the rapid advancements of technology, such as video calls, digital money, and social media, and their impact on society.
Mr. Banerjee underscored that there were several constitutional challenges with respect to this new visual world, such as data privacy. He elaborated on how bleak data privacy was due to private companies collecting, using, and analysing personal data via the Internet.
“If someone sitting in America wanted to trace you right now, they will know where you are. You can switch off your phone, they would still be able to trace where you are.”
“Everyone of your friends, whoever is on Facebook, whoever is on Instagram, if someone wants to run a data search, they will be able to identify who your friends are at a shot.”
The second issue, according to him, was the regulation of freedom of speech and expression. Freedom of speech, which was restricted under the Indian Constitution, was fundamentally a part of the Internet and social media because they came from a society that had very different conceptions of what freedom of speech was.
“People who are otherwise wonderfully decent when they interact with you, when they go on Twitter they become a horrible, violent personality. When you interact with another person one-on-one, you see the other person’s reaction, you regulate yourself, and you regulate how the other person says. Twitter, [or] any digital media takes away that, it makes you anonymous.”
Exploring the third issue of the right to practice your profession, Mr. Banerjee talked about the gig economy. He shed light on his experiences of dining out and how the world has changed with the advent of food delivery. He stated that though the facility had its merits, it also had demerits, such as a lack of workers’ rights and exploitation of the gig workers. In this regard, another concern was the loss of employment due to technology making certain jobs redundant and how that would affect the economy and our constitutional rights.
“Most of this [gig economy] is based on, in many ways, huge exploitation of people who come and deliver these goods to you.”
“Data is being collected all the time. What you spend on, what you eat, what you buy, what you go to, what you intend to consume, which restaurant you booked. This is all the data I don’t think was ever collected.”
“We want to navigate this strange age in which we are living, which is almost the twilight of the industrial age and the dawn of the digital age.”
Mr. Banerjee pointed out several other issues, such as data breaches, cyber threats, digital arrests, fake news, media manipulation, deepfakes, and big tech and data monopoly. He highlighted that America was an example of a democracy being affected by a big tech company, especially manipulation of voting. He remarked, “The technology of manipulating you how to vote is available too.”
Concluding his speech, Mr. Banerjee emphasised the importance of balancing freedom with self-restraint and the need for careful and adaptive governance in an increasingly digital society.
