Gurugram: Government database of people under home quarantine leaked

A government database of individuals with travel history to Covid-19 affected countries has been circulating on WhatsApp groups in Gurugram. The database contains

A government database of individuals with travel history to Covid-19 affected countries has been circulating on WhatsApp groups in Gurugram. The database contains the names, addresses, contact numbers, and travel dates of individuals who have now been placed under home quarantine. According to the health department, at least 1,500 individuals in the city are currently under quarantine at home.

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Dr Anuj Garg, the health department’s district protocol officer in Gurugram, said this information was not intended to be public. “The database was sent to us from the airport so that we can track people with travel histories and trace their contacts. It was probably leaked by a sanitation worker or lower-level official involved with putting up quarantine stickers outside homes,” Garg said.

Garg also said, “Messages are going around on WhatsApp saying that people in the database have tested positive for Covid-19. That is not true. They are only under quarantine. I have personally responded to messages on WhatsApp groups urging residents against stigmatising them. Those who are saying unsavoury things about their neighbours today may be affected tomorrow,” he said.

In another such incident, it was reported on March 25 that the Karnataka state government had published a list of 19,240 individuals with travel history abroad, after observing that several persons were breaking quarantine rules. Even though monitoring is of utmost importance in the current health crisis, experts warn that such disclosure, whether leaked or intentional, is likely to deepen the stigma against affected individuals.

“Privacy, confidentiality and autonomy are the founding principles of a good public health model. When data is made public like this, you are ultimately contributing to the stigmatisation of the individual, whose autonomy has already been somewhat reduced due to his condition. Such individuals are vulnerable and require greater protection,” said Shifalika Goenka, head of bioethics at the Public Health Foundation of India.

Incidents of discrimination against health workers, airline staff, and both suspected and positive Covid-19 cases have emerged from across the country, including Gurugram, and the exact cost of social stigma associated with the ongoing outbreak is yet to be seen. “The disclosure of such data may, in the future, affect a person’s relationship with their neighbours, society, or their employment prospects. It is therefore important to protect their already diminished autonomy,” Goenka added.

Though it remains necessary to monitor certain individuals to enforce social distancing, the state must do so in ways that do not impinge on personal liberties, or jeopardise the safety of an individual, according to Dr Rajib Dasgupta, a professor at the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health at Jawaharlal Nehru University. “In South Korea, a political negotiation to relax privacy laws has allowed the state to track individuals via apps. But the interaction is limited to the state and the individual,” Dasgupta pointed out.

Experts also cautioned that officials must exercise greater care while handling sensitive personal data, particularly as there is limited recourse for those who may be targeted as a result of its disclosure. Apar Gupta, executive director, Internet Freedom Foundation (an organisation working at the intersection of technology and fundamental rights), said, “A data leak like this violates not only one’s constitutional right to privacy but also Section 43(a) of the Information Technology Act, which specifies reasonable procedures to protect sensitive personal data, including health conditions and medical records.”

The institutional mechanism to enforce either, though, is insufficient. “This is because we do not yet have a personal data protection law in India, which would allow those affected to seek help from a Data Protection Authority,” said Raman Chima, Asia policy director and senior international counsel at Access Now, a global digital rights organisation. The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, has not yet been passed. A joint parliamentary committee headed by Meenakshi Lekhi is expected to deliver its comments on the proposed law in the monsoon session of parliament.

Meanwhile, there are still measures that can be taken to ensure the security of sensitive personal data. A strict administrative protocol that limits access to such databases, by adhering to a strong ‘chain of custody’ and maintaining access logs, is imperative. When such data is shared with a wider body of public officials, such as sanitation workers, names and other identifiers which may lead to individual targeting of people, must be redacted, experts advised.

“Even the housing welfare department and registrar of societies can step in to curb any prejudicial behaviour or vigilantism by RWAs. Social distancing cannot lead to the dissolution of social solidarity,” Gupta said. State capacity should be focused on containing the spread of Covid-19, not ensuring that neighbours aren’t fighting with one another, he emphasised.