A trial court in Delhi has ordered a probe against Monster.com for allegedly selling personal user data to a fake job racket, which duped a number of unemployed candidates.

Monster.com, one of the leading online job portals of the country, is set to face a legal battle after a trial court in Delhi ordered a probe against the internet company for allegedly selling personal data of its users to a third party. The chief metropolitan magistrate, Naresh Kumar Laka added that the online companies can not sell the personal data of their users to a third party without the consent of users in question. This development comes days after the landmark decision of terming privacy as a fundamental right was announced by the supreme court.

The magistrate also added that the option of agreeing to the terms and conditions of the website at the time of sign in can not be termed as users consent and that can not be taken as the basis for sharing the personal information with third parties. Also, that at the time of entering their personal information with the sole purpose of being used by that particular website, the users are not aware of the possibilities of their data being misused by the third parties, to whom it is sold.

Recently, the supreme court had stated that the online companies, at times, collect so much information about the users that it starts to invade the privacy of the said individual. While terming it a dangerous practice, the court had asked the government to frame a regulatory authority which controls the information collected by the online websites.

According to the SCI statement, the information collected by the companies can influence their personal lives and decision making. Referring to the same, the chief metropolitan magistrate ordered police to investigate the culprits behind the sale of personal data by Monster.com. He added that based on the personal data of unemployed individuals, an accused cheated a number of people in the name of giving them employment. He also added that such rackets are operating throughout the country and there need to be a framework and law to regulate and nab them.

The court also said that in understood terms, when a candidate applies for a job on a portal like Monster.com, he shares his information such as name, mobile number, educational qualification and address. The same can not be transferred/sold or shared with a third party without the consent of the applicant.

In its defence, however, the company said that it asks the users to sign an agreement at the time of signing up, which includes a clause that the users can be contacted by the representatives of various companies offering jobs according to their profiles.