THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY VS MASS SURVEILLANCE: A LEGAL AND ETHICAL ANALYSIS IN THE AGE OF GLOBAL SECURITY CONCERNS.

The Right to Privacy and the mass surveillance are critical issues in the modern legal and ethical
debates, especially with the rise of digital technologies such as social media, public health
concerns, national security concerns etc. The Right to Privacy is recognized as a fundamental
right under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees the right to life and personal
liberty, it stressed that privacy constitutes an integral component of the right to life and personal
liberty. Whereas, on the other hand, Mass surveillance refers to the systematic monitoring of a
significant segment of a population, typically conducted by government entities or private
corporations for the purpose of protecting national security, to prevent crime and to fight
terrorism. In this research paper, the doctrinal method of study has been implemented for
finding the ways to balance these two competing interests. The conflict between these two
interests has grown increasingly prominent in the recent years, with the rise of modern days
issues such as data privacy, government surveillance, and freedom of expression as global
discussions. Though both the interests are conflicting with each other, the Right to Privacy is a
fundamental right but not absolute and subject to reasonable restrictions. Similarly, Mass
Surveillance is not a right under International law as well as Indian law and it often involves
invasive data collection, which can conflict with the Right to Privacy. This paper aims to
critically analyze how to achieve the harmony between the Right to Privacy and Mass
Surveillance guided by the principles of necessity, proportionality, accountability and public
safety and it further ensures that governance protects the national security without undermining
individuals' fundamental rights.