ABSTRACT This article is an attempt to examine the growing consolidation and harmonisation of privacy and surveillance laws in the major SAARC member nations, as well as to take stock of South Asia’s emerging privacy jurisprudence. Driven by reactions to increasingly frequent data collection and profiling attempts by the government, as well as the side effects of growing digital markets, the privacy discourse in South Asia is evolving with a heightened awareness of privacy as a core fundamental right. At the same time, some governments in the region are also keen to explore the benefits of the digital economy, and are increasingly developing economic policies that focus on the use of data as a ‘resource’ for the State and the industry. Apart from outlining these developments, the article delves into and identifies the source of privacy rights in these countries, whether derived from the constitutions of the respective countries or otherwise provided for through specific legislation. The article traces and examines the legal architectures of privacy and surveillance in the region, including national profiling databases. It then zooms out to pinpoint possible trends and influences.

中文翻译：

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迎头赶上——南亚的隐私制度

摘要本文试图研究南亚区域合作联盟主要成员国隐私和监控法律的日益整合和协调，以及评估南亚新兴的隐私判例。在对政府日益频繁的数据收集和分析尝试的反应以及不断增长的数字市场的副作用的推动下，南亚的隐私讨论正在随着将隐私作为核心基本权利的意识的提高而发展。与此同时，该地区的一些政府也热衷于探索数字经济的好处，并越来越多地制定将数据作为国家和行业“资源”使用的经济政策。除了概述这些发展，该文章深入探讨并确定了这些国家隐私权的来源，无论是源自各自国家的宪法还是通过具体立法另有规定。本文追踪并检查了该地区隐私和监控的法律架构，包括国家概况数据库。然后它会缩小以查明可能的趋势和影响。