She seeks a robust statutory regime

All India Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, who is a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, has approached the Madras High Court batting for online privacy and against steps taken for decryption of online communications in the absence of a robust statutory regime governing the sensitive issue.

Urging the court to allow her to be included as one of the respondents to a public interest litigation petition filed by Antony Clement Rubin for linking social media and e-mail accounts with some government identity proof, the MP said, such a measure has to await the enactment of the Personal Data Protection Bill pending in draft form for over a year.

Being a supporter of individual right to privacy, she said, she was concerned about the level of access which social media companies currently have to her data and the impact of such access upon her right to privacy.

She was also concerned over the extent to which they would further impinge on her right to privacy when they are required to link her identity proof.

Her plea is expected to be listed before a Division Bench of Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and N. Seshasayee on Tuesday along with the main PIL petition.