Call for Blogs | Blog Series on “Right to Privacy and the Legality of Surveillance” by Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), RGNUL: Submit by Jan 15

ABOUT RGNUL STUDENT RESEARCH REVIEW

The RGNUL Student Research Review (RSRR) Journal (formerly RGNUL Student Law Review) is a bi-annual, student run, blind peer reviewed journal based at Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab. It is a flagship law journal of RGNUL managed by the students of the University. It was founded with the objective of facilitating novel ideas and a research conducive environment. 

RSRR consistently publishes dedicated Blog Series on niche and contemporary legal issues. RSRR regularly engages the student community, as well as legal practitioners, to contribute to the legal discourse on various topics. The RSRR Blog Series was also named one of the top 25 Constitutional Law Blogs by Feedspot for the last two years.

ABOUT THE CENTRE FOR INTERNET AND SOCIETY

The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) is a non-profit organisation that undertakes interdisciplinary research on internet and digital technologies from policy and academic perspectives. The areas of focus include digital accessibility for persons with disabilities, access to knowledge, intellectual property rights, openness (including open data, free and open source software, open standards, open access, open educational resources, and open video), internet governance, telecommunication reform, digital privacy, and cyber-security. The research at CIS seeks to understand the reconfiguration of social processes and structures through the internet and digital media technologies, and vice versa.

Through its diverse initiatives, CIS explores, intervenes in, and advances contemporary discourse and regulatory practices around internet, technology, and society in India, and elsewhere.

CALL FOR BLOGS

In the age of digitalisation and the internet, issues of data protection and privacy have come to the forefront. Discourse and jurisprudence on the right to privacy have been evolving with time, with developments and rapid advancements in technology constantly posing new privacy concerns.

A landmark moment came in 2017, with the decision of a nine judge bench in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India, which led to the right to privacy being declared a fundamental right. Subsequently, the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, intended to protect the personal data of individuals, was introduced in the Lok Sabha in 2019. The Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 is reportedly considering including the protection of non-personal data within the ambit of the Bill. The report of the Committee is expected to be presented to the Parliament during the 2021 Winter Session. A new draft of the 2019 Bill is expected to be presented before the Parliament soon.

Privacy concerns have once again been in the limelight recently after reports alleged that the Pegasus software was being used to spy on hundreds of people all over the world including numerous in India. The Supreme Court of India, while ordering an independent probe into the allegations, noted that surveillance infringes on the right to privacy of an individual. One of the most important questions presented here was where does an individual’s right to privacy lie in the larger context of national security.

Social media is currently considered as one of the biggest threats to individual privacy. Actions of social media giants recently have highlighted these issues. Facebook’s name change to “Meta” has brought the concept of a shared virtual space called the “Metaverse” to the forefront, which is expected to operate parallel to the real world. Such a world would require huge amounts of data for its operation, giving rise to issues related to users’ personal data and privacy rights. Earlier this year, WhatsApp launched its new privacy policy which raised concerns regarding the ability of social media companies to collect and misuse user data in the garb of user consent even though no real choice has been provided to users.

This blog series aims to critically analyse the legal and regulatory framework surrounding the right to privacy and the legality of surveillance. We welcome submissions from legal practitioners, academicians, students, and members of the legal fraternity.

For more details, kindly refer to the Call for Blogs in the PDF file below or click here.

SUGGESTED SUB THEMES

These sub themes are merely illustrative. Submissions need not be restricted to this list, as long as they fall within the ambit of the main theme.

1. Privacy and data protection in a pandemic
2. Benefits vs harms of processing medical and health data
3. The proportionality test: treading the line between national security and the individual right to privacy
4. Privacy and AI 
5. Data for good and the commodification of individual data
6. Social Media and Privacy 
7. Need for reform in the laws regulating surveillance in India
8. The growth of biometric data collection and surveillance 
9. Comparative Analysis with international standard

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

1. All submissions must be in Garamond, font size 12, spacing 1.5. 
2. Referencing: 
   1. Manuscripts must include hyperlinks for relevant legal sources and other information, including any laws, treaties or other legal texts which are mentioned.
   2. The hyperlinks must only link to legal or reliable/respected news sources. The sources shall only be linked to primary sources. Hyper-linking to secondary sources may lead to re-corrections required from the authors. 
   3. Only relevant legal sources that cannot be accessed online may be cited through endnotes. The endnotes should be in Garamond, font size 10, single-spaced. All endnotes must be in the Chicago Style. In order to help with the review process please use endnotes only if absolutely unavoidable. 
3. Margins: Left 1 Inch, Right 1 Inch, Top 1 Inch, and Bottom 1 Inch. 
4. Word limit for each post is 1500-1800 words (exclusive of endnotes). Articles exceeding the word limit shall be accepted subject to the discretion of the Board. If accepted, they shall be published in two parts.
5. Authors are required to provide an abstract of 100-150 words along with keywords that represent the essence of the submission. The abstract is to be submitted along with the article itself in the same document as of the blog submission. 
6. The entries should be submitted only in .doc/.docx format. 
7. Entries selected, after the Peer Review process by CIS, shall be published on the RSRR website. Some of the entries selected by the Peer Review process will be cross posted on the CIS website, after more detailed feedback with the authors and copy editing conducted by CIS. The authors’ whose posts are selected for publication on the CIS website will also be provided a honorarium of 5,000 INR.
8. The manuscripts which are selected by the Board shall be replied to within 21 days of the submission. In case no reply is received from the Board within 21 days, the article shall be deemed to be rejected. 
9. E-certificates from RSRR and CIS will be awarded to the authors of each published blog. 
10. Co-authorship up to a maximum of two persons is permitted. 
11. The author(s) bear sole responsibility for the accuracy of facts, opinions or views stated in the submitted Manuscript. 
12. Plagiarism in any form is strictly prohibited. RSRR follows the University Grants Commission (Promotion of Academic Integrity and Prevention of Plagiarism in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2018. 
13. Copyright of all blog posts published on the RSRR website shall remain with RGNUL Student Research Review. Copyright of all blog posts published on the CIS website shall remain with RSRR and the author. The same shall be subject to the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) Licence. 
14. All moral rights shall vest with the author(s). 
15. The manuscripts not abiding to the above guidelines are subject to rejection. 

SUBMISSION PROCEDURE 

All the submissions must be made through the Google Form. Any submission made via any other mode than the one suggested or even via mail shall not be considered. 

DEADLINE 

The last date for submissions for this Series is 15^th January, 2022. 

Contact Us

For any queries, mail us at submissionsrslr@rgnul.ac.in.
RSRR website can be accessed here. 
Previous Blog Series can be accessed here.

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