A trial court has ordered a probe against online jobs portal Monster.com for allegedly selling users’ data to third party, reports ET. According to the publication, Chief metropolitan magistrate (CMM) Naresh Kumar Laka said that online companies can not share users’ personal information with third parties without users’ informed consent. The CMM also said that users agreeing with the portal’s terms of use and privacy policy would not automatically mean that companies are allowed to share or sell their personal information. The order comes at the heel of the landmark ruling where the Supreme Court upheld that privacy is a fundamental right. The ruling was unanimous with 9-0 judges ruling in favour. The government has also mooted a data protection law and set up processes and committees for it. The SC's judegment will have far reaching consequences for Internet companies including Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Uber and others which rely on taking consent from users when they sign up for services and agree to their privacy policy. Laka added that “at the time of entering personal information, job-seekers are not aware that the said data can be sold to any third person or that it can be misused. Accordingly, the said ostensible consent of the said applicant/individual cannot be said to be a free, voluntary or informed consent” The court said that such fake job rackets are operating across the country and a firm hand is needed to check them. In its defence, Monster said it had told police that it had entered into a lawful contract…
