In the legal parlance the issue of confidentiality comes up where an obligation of confidence arises between a ‘data collector’ and a ‘data subject.’ This may apply to various circumstances and information, one of such may be employment, finance or medical. The devoir of confidence provides the right to the data subject to not have his information used for other purposes except what has been previously discussed or disclosed without obtaining his consent except in the case of other overriding reasons in the public interest for this to happen. As per Section 72 of this Act any person who, in pursuance of any of the powers conferred by the Act or its allied rules and regulations has secured access to any electronic record, book, register, correspondence, information, document, or other material and if such person discloses such electronic record, book, register, correspondence, information, document or other material to any other person, he shall be punished with imprisonment for a term, which may extend to two years, or with fine, which may extend to one lakh rupees, or with both. The idea behind the Section 72 is that the person who has secured access to any such information shall not take unfair advantage of it by disclosing it to the third party without obtaining the consent of the disclosing party. An obligation of confidence arises between …show more content…
The Securities Exchange Board of India (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 1992 renders the use and disclosure of confidential information by an insider subject to prosecution under the Securities Exchange Board of India Act (although a third party which makes use of this information is not liable). As of July, 2014, India does not have any codified law for the protection of trade secrets and confidential information which can help to elucidate the hiatus making it abstruse for arriving at an adjudication based on common principles by the different High Courts. Termination is the most apparent corollary that follows from the breach of confidentiality. An employer has all the legal rights to fire an employee for the breach of employer's confidentiality. This right further extends to the employer suing the employee for the same, where if the trail is successful, the employer has the right to seek monetary damages from the employee. An employer, in some cases may also obtain punitive damages against the employee. Criminal charges against the employee may also be a consequence of the breach of confidentiality in extreme circumstances. The damages which arise from the breach of confidentiality clauses or confidence are generally determined on the