Last year on August 24, 2017 the Supreme Court affirmed our right to privacy. 9 judges of the court underscored its importance and need linking it to equality, our right to life, freedom of expression -- the entire chapter on fundamental right. This was a significant victory which deserves to be celebrated, not only as a marker, but as a promise that must be fulfilled. This principle and promise will only be fulfilled with clear public actions that cause impact and bring greater liberty, autonomy and dignity to the people of India.

The SaveOurPrivacy.in effort wants to set out a clear plan, indicate public commitments on what it plans as the future steps as this campaign evolves and matures relying on the support of more than 10,000 people and 27 organisations.

Our principal objective remains getting an effective, citizen centric and strong privacy and data protection law such as the Indian Privacy Code, 2018 through our legislatures. To do this we propose the following steps:

1. Respond to the Draft Bill proposed by the Justice Srikrishna Committee and help all our supporters and those concerned about privacy with resources to help them reply and make their views known.
2. We are going to keep working and talking to lawmakers all over India to ensure that privacy and data protection is a reality. Some of the volunteers have already assisted Shri Shashi Tharoor’s office a year back in filing a user centric privacy bill in parliament. We will continue to engage with lawmakers to have the core ideas of the the Indian Privacy Code reflected in legislative proposals in parliament and even state legislatures.
3. One of the key tasks which has been promised, and will be delivered is an updated version of the Indian Privacy Code, 2018 which takes into account not only the public feedback but also the Srikrishna Report and the Draft Bill.

We also recognise that till we get a comprehensive privacy and data protection law, there will be a need for constant vigilance and citizen action through courts, regulatory bodies and public consultation. We will remain concerned and depending on our resources and ability try our best to do the following:

1. Engage with regulatory bodies and courts to ensure that your privacy is protected and respected by corporations and the government. We are concerned and will attempt to draw public attention towards future public projects such as mass installation of CCTV’s and AI technologies which are being used for policing functions.
2. Some of this litigation includes parts of IFF’s work which has used the Indian Privacy Code as a framework to engage in actions on the Social Media Communication Hub (Notice to Ministry of Information and Broadcasting), Whatsapp Data Sharing (Intervention in the Supreme Court of India) and the Right to Be Forgotten litigation (Need to balance the need for privacy with freedom of speech and expression).

A core part of this campaign has also been to engage on privacy through public education and community action. We will continue our partnerships in the ongoing conversation on privacy and data protection in a rights based framework by:

1. Making videos and speaking at various forums. This includes assisting creative professionals meaningfully explain and engage on issues of privacy and data protection.
2. Looking to create more local language translations of the 7 Privacy Principles.

Finally, privacy and data protection is a cause we believe requires collaborative work between different organisations and forging partnerships. It is a shared objective which goes much beyond this campaign, the organisations and the people associated with it. We will continue to deepen our engagement, bring greater care and consideration in our efforts as we learn and engage with allies to ensure India gets a massive win for freedom, autonomy and dignity. For now, we celebrate today as #PrivacyDay