Government not liable for data leaks from Aarogya Setu app: Report

The government has made the Aarogya Setu app compulsory for public and private sector employees, and for those living in containment zones.

May 06, 2020 / 11:01 IST

A clause in the COVID-19 contact-tracing app Aarogya Setu might reduce the government's liability in the event of a data leak.

According to a report by The Economic Times, legal experts questioned whether legal action would be the only recourse in the event of unauthorised access of information, since the app is mandatory for many citizens.

According to the app's terms and conditions, the user "agrees and acknowledges that the Government of India will not be liable for…any unauthorised access to your information or modification thereof".

Legal experts quoted in the report say that though liability clauses are a part of standard practice, it is worrying since the government has made the Aarogya Setu app compulsory for public and private sector employees, and for those living in containment zones.

"This also goes against the provisions of the IT Act and the proposed Personal Data Protection Bill as the app service provider would fall under the definition of an intermediary and (is) obligated to ensure the security of the data collected and (is) liable for loss of it under the intermediary guidelines," Salman Waris, Partner at Tech Legis Advocates and Solicitors said as per the report.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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