privacy 3.0

The book is an easy read about privacy without much jargons on the topic . It traces evolution of privacy starting from the hunter gatherer stage of mankind to the present times during which some technology has on the one hand enabled privacy while some have cast a dark shadow on it .

 It discusses interesting cases about evolution of privacy law in both uk and us . in uk privacy law evolved as an adjunct to breach of confidence and only with curly vs pope case and the royal family case did it clearly come out as a right in its own stead .

In us it was the Harvard law article by Warren and Brandeis that set the right to privacy on a firm footing as the right to be left alone . Ultimately fair information practices and principles fipps was enacted .

The book also traces the evolution of privacy law in India where the right to privacy is conspicuous by its absence in the  Indian constitution inspite of discussion in the constituent assembly.  The first time it came for discussion in supreme court was in the mp Sharma case followed by kharak Singh . Both the cases took the road of originalist constitutional interpretation to not read the right as a fundamental right.

However in madhya pradesh vs govind inspite of a smaller bench a right to privacy was upheld and domiciliary visits of police were declared ultra vires .

The  biggest development on privacy law in India was the puttaswamy judgement which came about because of a challenge to the aadhar regime . The nine judge bench unequivocally established a right to privacy in India , upheld the naz foundation case ruling and overruled the eight judge mp Sharma ruling. The author also summarises the  judgement of all the nine authors. 

Finally the author brings up the issue of consent which is in vogue today before data collection by controllers . Data subjects are subjected to myriad types of consent forms today which are not only bulky but also difficult to comprehend for an average data subject. One time consent niether satisfies collector who may realise its myriad uses and purposes after collecting because of the changing nature of technology, not does it satisfy the subject who has no avenue for cross verification of data  post consent . 

The author instead argues for an accountability paradigm where regulatory audit will determine the  Safety and security of systems and communicate it to the data controller for rectification failing which punitive action will be warranted. The author's idea of a security rating of apps is a worthwhile idea , a lacuna which we all are too aware of because of multiplicity of apps on a particular topic .

book review: complications by Atul gawande

Books on everyday medical problems has caught my attention these days and Dr gawande does a fine job of bringing out the complexities of medical profession. While he names the book as complications, i would rather call it complexities touching upon a myriad of them.

He starts with a complex case of a boy with no obvious solution but subsequently solved with some dose of  common sense and luck at the last hour. Dr gawande brings out very lucidly the dangers fraught in various hospital interventions such as anaesthesia, tracheostomy , central venous line , etc  along with his own doubts and mistakes during these procedures . His candid admissions regarding the evolution of a resident to a trained doctor including himself is rare these days. The fallibility of doctors and uncertainty in medicine is a frequently touched upon theme .

Dr gawande also touches upon various afflictions which are very common in their occurrence but rare in their complications such as nausea , pain , blushing , obesity giving a surgeon's insight into each one of them . 

The most important theme which he touches upon again in this book and also his other book being mortal is about the goals of medicine especially in terminally ill patients and what patient doctor interaction best suits to achieve that goal.