Law Vision
Right to privacy and the role of information commission
Oli Md. Abdullah Chowdhury
Privacy is a fundamental human right recognised in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Privacy not only underpins human dignity, but other key values such as freedom of association and freedom of speech. Although right to privacy issue is relatively new in Bangladesh, it has globally become one of the most important human rights issues.
In Bangladesh, the issue recently came forward as one of the customers noticed a camera in Persona as she was leaving the changing room after taking service. It has been published in The Daily Star (October 4, 2011) that Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) authority formed a probe committee after the woman alleged she was taped on a closed circuit television (CCTV) camera while taking service at a reputed beauty salon, which is having branches in different locations of the city and several clients of that salon expressed their concern and debut on privacy came up.
“The Republic shall be a democracy in which fundamental human rights and freedoms and respect for the dignity and worth of the human person shall be guaranteed and in which effective participation by the people through their elected representatives in administration at all levels shall be ensured” said in Article 11 of the constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. It has been further stated in Article 43, “Every citizen shall have the right, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interests of the security of the State, public order, public morality or public health (a) to be secured in his home against entry, search and seizure; and (b) to the privacy of his correspondence and other means of communication”. Thus, provisions related to privacy rights occupy a place in the constitution.
Right to Information Act: Interestingly, Right to Information act reflects the spirit of respect for the dignity and worth of the human person. It has been stated in the Section 7 (h) “Notwithstanding anything contained in any other provisions of this Act, no authority shall be bound to provide with the following information, namely any such information that may, if disclosed, offend the privacy of the personal life of an individual”. Information obviously includes images and videos as it is said in Section 2(f),”information includes any memo, book, design, map, contract, data, log book, order, notification, document, sample, letter, report, accounts, project proposal, photograph, audio, video, drawing, painting, film, any instrument done through electronic process, machine readable record, and any other documentary material regardless of its physical form or characteristics, and any copy thereof in relation to the constitution, structure and official activities of any authority: Provided that it shall not include note-sheets or copies of note-sheets”.
The Information Commission enforces and oversees the Right to Information Act, Rules and Regulations made under the Act. It has been stated in the Section 12 of the Right to Information Act, “The Commission shall consist of the Chief Information Commissioner and 2(two) other Commissioners, at least1 (one) of whom shall be a woman”.
Data Protection Act in UK: In UK, The Data Protection Act ensures that like other forms of data footage is also reasonably captured and kept. It should be viewed by a designated staff member and not made widely available. The Data Protection Act also requires that the footage be made available to its subjects, where appropriate, and if requested.
The Data Protection Act sets rules which CCTV operators must follow when they gather, store and release CCTV images of individuals. The Information Commissioner can enforce these rules. However, the use of cameras for limited household purposes is not covered by the Data Protection Act.
Provisions might be included in the Right to Information Act so that footage and images are reasonably captured and kept. Unfortunately, business organisations are kept outside of the domain of the Right to Information Act. In order to tackle abuses related to video footage and images, necessary amendments should be made in the Right to Information Act.
The writer is a human rights worker.
