This article is written by Ashutosh Singh.
Introduction
“Tortious liability arises from the breach of a duty primarily fixed by law: this duty is towards persons generally and its breach is redressible by an action for unliquidated damages.” Salmond defined Tort as “a civil wrong for which the remedy is a civil law action for unliquidated damages and which is not exclusively the breach of contract or breach of a trust or other merely equitable obligation.” Furthermore, Limitation Act defines Tort as civil wrong which is not exclusively a breach of contract or breach of trust.
From the above definitions of tort or tortious liability, the basic idea of what tortious liability becomes apparent. The first part of the topic deals about what tortious liability actually is; the same has been done taking into account of Indian as well as outside world context. The second part of the topic ‘misuse of personal information’ has been dealt with in light of various Indian and foreign statutes. ‘Misuse of personal information’ in true terms means
![DATA PROTECTION LAWS IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES: This part specifically deals with the laws relating to data protection and laws relating to protection of infringement of right to privacy in foreign countries. The role and contribution of European Union on data protection and privacy laws have also been mentioned in the chapter to show the concern of international organisations on privacy law. The Privacy Act of 1974, United States of America Roots of the Privacy Act of 1974 can be traced as far back as 1965 when hearings were held by the House of Representatives Special Subcommittee on Invasion of Privacy.[7] Privacy Act of 1974 is a companion to and extension of the Freedom of Information Act of 1966 (FOIA).[8] The Privacy Act of 1974[9] establishes a code of fair information practices that governs the collection, maintenance, use, and dissemination of personally identifiable information about individuals that is maintained in systems of records by federal agencies. A system of records is a group of records under the control of an agency from which information is retrieved by the name of the individual or by some identifier assigned to the individual.[10] The prohibition of disclosure of information from a system of records is the main area of focus of The Privacy Act of 1974. The Act set forth some basic principles of “fair information practice” and provided individuals with the right of access to information about themselves and the right to challenge the contents of records. It required that personal information may only be disclosed with the individual’s consent or for purposes announced in advance. The Act required federal agencies to publish an annual list of systems maintained by the agency that contain personal information.](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd1drMJDycTZO_kACTAl5hGfY9ZG1b_yApeoH6I2QZaUW_jty3Q2q58cOu1-rcDbf1XuLEk_5HDEbuXQ9YcyrWdH1YeAzL82FqqAmIjGC5uXWjJvQrtbAQKKL6ZYPX35Szi2NLngMBY0s/s1600/data+protection.jpg "DATA PROTECTION LAWS")
