SLIIT International Conference on Advancements in Sciences and Humanities [SICASH] 2022

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    Right to Information vs. Right to Protect Personal Data: A Guidance from the Decisions of the USA & the European Court of Justice.
    (Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, SLIIT, 2022-09-15) Rajapakse, R.L.W.
    Right to Information (RTI) and right to privacy (RTP) are two basic rights of people in a democratic country. Since personal data consists of a main element of privacy, the right not to disclose one's personal data to a third party is an essential part of the RTP. The citizens of Sri Lanka have had the right of obtaining information that is in the custody of public authorities since 2017 under the RTI Act. When deciding whether requested information will be disclosed or not, the public authority will have to consider the exceptions stipulated in the said Act, including the exception of privacy. However, with the enactment of the Personal Data Protection (PDP) Act in 2022 in Sri Lanka, it is crucial to consider the impact of the said Act on the RTI Act. Under the above context, this research explored the overlapping provisions of these two legislations and the decisions of the USA & the European Court of Justice in similar matters. This research study utilized the qualitative methodology where the researcher studied, analyzed, and synthesized a variety of materials gathered through primary and secondary sources to formulate a conclusion and come up with the study results. Finally, the research revealed that the PDP Act has put the additional liability on the public authorities when considering information requests under the RTI Act. Further, the research has identified some guidance from the decided cases of the USA & the European Court of Justice regarding overlapping provisions.
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    Violation of Human Dignity through Online Harassment: A Case for Stronger Protection of Privacy in Sri Lanka
    (Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, SLIIT, 2022-09-15) Harasgama, K; Jayamaha, S
    Human dignity, a concept widely discussed philosophical, political and legal spheres, has gained importance with its recognition under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as a foundation of human rights. Dignity is understood to be inherent in humans. Scholars observe dignity to be twofold; firstly, dignity by reason of humans having the capacity to rationalize and secondly humans as social animals having a sense of self-worth and social standing. Human Dignity, therefore, is universally recognized so as human rights in general. On the contrary, Privacy is just another right and does not command a wide and equal standing in every society. Privacy relates to the personal space; be it bodily, informational, territorial or communicational within which a person expects to be free from scrutiny. Privacy refers to the limit to which one desires to expose himself to others. It is understood that privacy is one element which contributes to the notion of dignity. Privacy violations will therefore lead to the degradation of human dignity. This is illustrated in cases of online harassment as publication of intimate, sexually explicit video/images of individuals, impersonating victims, and defaming or insulting victims in public categorically invade the privacy of individuals thus violating their human dignity. Sri Lanka has a piecemeal approach to protecting privacy, which is scattered around various statutes and case law, and is of limited scope. Upholding dignity, therefore, is challenged although the Sri Lankan Constitution and case law identify dignity as foundational. Hence, it is argued that a state which is concerned with upholding the dignity of its citizens should be equally concerned about protecting the privacy of those citizens.