Privacy concerns grow in India

The Indian government’s recent announcement that it taps nearly 300 new phones every day has sparked a debate about privacy in a country that traditionally views such concerns as an ugly offshoot of Western individualism.

Indians tend to stress identities of family and community over any others. But a growing desire for privacy and what many say is a government assault on it are creating tension in this nation of 1.2 billion people. The reasons for the shift, experts say, include changing family structures and lifestyles among the urban middle class, as well as a mass media explosion and the Internet, just as the government has begun tapping more phones and using surveillance cameras in more public places. The constitution does not guarantee a right to privacy here, nor does the country have a data protection law to guard against the misuse of personal information. But the government has proposed a wide-ranging privacy law, and a coalition of organizations and activists, including the newly formed advocacy group Privacy India, is trying to help shape it.