Personality Rights in the Digital Age: Balancing Free Speech and the Right to Privacy
UPSC Relevance
Prelims: Indian Polity and Governance (Fundamental Rights - Article 19 & 21, Judiciary); Science & Technology (AI, Deepfakes); Indian Economy (Intellectual Property Rights - Copyright, Trademarks).
Mains:
General Studies Paper 2 (Polity & Governance): Indian Constitution—significant provisions and basic structure; Fundamental Rights.
General Studies Paper 3 (S&T, Security): Awareness in the fields of IT, Computers, Artificial Intelligence; Challenges to internal security through communication networks; Basics of cyber security; Issues relating to intellectual property rights.
General Studies Paper 4 (Ethics): Ethical issues in science and technology.
Key Highlights from the News
India's courts are increasingly providing protection to personality rights, which prevent the commercial use of a celebrity's name, image, voice, and likeness without their permission.
The threats posed by new technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), deepfakes, and voice cloning have brought this issue back into prominence.
In India, there is no single statute specifically for personality rights. Instead, courts protect these rights based on the Right to Privacy under Article 21, the Copyright Act, and the Trade Marks Act.
Recent rulings by the Delhi and Bombay High Courts in favor of Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, and Arijit Singh are crucial in this area.
However, courts have also clarified that these rights should not infringe upon the Freedom of Speech (Article 19(1)(a)). Parody, satire, and criticism are permissible.
Experts suggest that a comprehensive legislative framework is needed on this issue, rather than relying solely on court rulings.
This issue affects not only celebrities but also ordinary women who fall victim to deepfakes and revenge pornography.
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