Rethinking Personality Rights In The Digital Era
- IJLLR Journal
- May 12
- 2 min read
Harshita Karanam, Amity Law School, Noida
Ms. Sonakshi Varshney, Asst. Professor, Amity Law School, Noida
ABSTRACT
The rapid changes of digital era has foundationally reshaped the way an individual’s identity is created, represented and used which is raising serious concerns for the personality rights protection. This paper goes through the background and evolution of personality rights from their origin to present- day development of digital-era, where identity is seen as dignity and also as a property with commercial value. The Indian legal framework will be thoroughly analysed and highlights the gaps which are fragmented and inadequate, that needs to be filled. Indian legal framework relies totally on constitutional interpretation, Tort law and IPR principles rather than a proper codifies statutory regime.
In this study we will explore emerging challenges like misuse of social media, deepfake technology, NFTs and online defamation, which poses significantly higher risks to individual’s personality (identity and reputation). A comparative analysis will be made between United States, European Union and United Kingdom. Key lessons for India from these nations to India has been broadly studies. Balanced approach that protects personality rights while safeguarding freedom of speech and expression is majorly the need of the hour.
Hence the absence of a codified, comprehensive legal framework will leave the individuals vulnerable in the digital era. It can be recommended that enactment of the personality rights Act will strengthen the existing data protection laws and also specialised mechanisms for effective enforcement has to be established parallelly. So the study ultimately argues for a nuanced and forward looking legal approach that aligns both developing technology with constitutional values of dignity , freedom of speech and expression.
Keywords: Personality rights, Right to Privacy, Right to Publicity, Deepfakes, Article 19, Article 21, online defamation.
