PDPA 2021: Definition of Harm to include psychological manipulation

PDPA is a legislation that is meant to uphold the human right concept of “Privacy”. Privacy is a concept which reflects the “State of Mind” of an individual and a feeling of “being left alone”.

According to human psychologists, Hypnotists and also the spiritual gurus, human mind is like a computer which based on the inputs received from the sensory organs creates experiences to which humans respond. If the input is wrongly perceived, the reaction would be inappropriate.

It is easy to understand that if the mind perceives the red traffic signal as green, then the human will proceed and perhaps crash against another person who sees red as red, green as green.

The human perception is based mostly on past learning like it happens when an AI algorithm is trained with specific inputs. The theories of Thomas Anthony Harris on the life positions individuals may take as “I am OK, You are OK” etc., is based on such principles of how the individual has experienced his childhood.

The theory of Transactional Analysis the PAC model also suggests that our responses to human interactions are conditioned by the way our ego states have been developed.

The ability to “Observe”, “Perceive”, “Interpret” and “learn” is an inherent characteristic of any human being.

Some might have developed the instinct to such an extent that they develop the skills of “Face Reading”. Some try to develop the expertise as an ability to read the “Body Language”.

Given this inherent human character of taking a mental position based on any of the sensory perceptions fed to their mind, any information is also likely to have an automatic impact on the human being. This cannot be prevented.

Those who can keep themselves immune to the external stimuli and react independently are the Sadguru’s of this world.

Law cannot be made for such Sadgurus since they are too few in number and donot represent the majority.

However the data protection laws across the world appear to take up this task of regulating not only the “State of Mind of an individual” but also what one human perceives when he receives some personal information.

Let me give an example.

Here is a binary stream and I want you to let me know what is the first reaction you have on the same:

01001101 01101111 01100100 01101001

Think over…. We shall continue our discussion in the continued article and the amendment in PDPA 2021 which has added Section 3(23)(xi) which adds a new type of “Harm” namely “psychological manipulation which impairs the autonomy of the individual” to the list of harms that the regulation tries to protect an individual against.

(Second Part of this article)

Naavi

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