Kerala HC issues instructions for confidentiality of health data

The Court also prevented the company from using the state government’s name or logo for promotional purposes.

The Kerala High Court on Friday issued a set of instructions to ensure the confidentiality of the COVID-19 data that the state government is transferring to the United States-based Sprinklr firm for analysis.

Weeks ago, the Kerala government accepted the offer from Sprinklr, a Software as a Service (SAS) company, to analyze COVID-19 data in the state for better situation management. This generated criticism within the LDF government and the Opposition Congress, since the issue was not discussed in the Cabinet or examined by the Legal Department.

In their provisional order, Justice Bank Devan Ramachandran and T R Ravi said the state government should anonymize the data before sharing it with Sprinklr. Additionally, the government must inform people that Sprinklr will access their data, the bank said, adding that people’s consent must be obtained before collecting their data for analysis. The court, which acted on litigation brought by attorney K S Jaykar, would consider the matter three weeks later. In issuing the order, the court said the instructions were given with the intention of “ensuring that there is no data epidemic after the COVID-19 epidemic is brought under control.”

The court also ordered that any residual or secondary data with Sprinklr be removed immediately. In addition, the company was prevented from announcing that they are in possession of data related to people under observation on suspicion of exposure to COVID-19. The US company cannot directly or indirectly exploit the data for its commercial purpose, the court said. Sprinklr was also prevented from using the state government emblem for promotional activities.

The Union government told the court it was ready to provide data analysis support through the National Center for Informatics.

Last month, the Kerala government decided to release the health data of around 2 lakh people to the United States-based firm. ASHA workers had been asked to collect the data using a mobile app, and the information would be sent to Sprinklr’s server, which has Keralite Ragy Thomas as CEO and founder. The company was expected to structure the field data and provide it to the state government for COVID-19 management. The pact was signed by the IT Department under the chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan.

The leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Ramesh Chennithala, said the court found that all issues raised by the Opposition are serious, adding that the government should cancel the agreement with Sprinklr.

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