Brijender Singh Panwar
The Government must bring in cyber laws to deal with modern surveillance methods
The Supreme Court has constituted a panel of experts under retired Justice RV Raveendran into the Pegasus affair. Any surveillance or snooping done on an individual by the State or any outside agency is an infringement of that person’s right to privacy. Hence, any violation of that right of the State, even in national interest, has to follow procedures established by the law. The controversy started with the revelation by WhatsApp that more than 1,400 of its users living in 20 countries including Indian journalists and activists had been targeted by Pegasus. Defending the Government in Parliament, the Union Minister of Information Technology refuted the allegation of unauthorized spying claiming that the agencies follow set protocols on interception. However, experts differ. They say there are fault lines in the existing laws, the “checks and balances” are not respected and no action is taken against the violators. Also, there is no data privacy law to protect citizens in India. Hacking and surveillance, both official and non-official, are widespread. Since the time of Indira Gandhi through to VP Singh and Manmohan Singh, several governments were accused of tapping political rivals and Opposition leaders. So, the question arises, phone tapping had been in practice since long, why Pegasus spyware is such a big deal? We need to understand the gravity of its application and reach. Earlier, the surveillance was limited to few targets and hardly any technology was available. Now, we are dealing with a very sophisticated spyware infecting both Android phones and iPhones. The extent of reach has rarely been heard of. The spyware penetrates your phone without your knowledge “over the air”.The presence and application of Pegasus was first observed in 2016 when it created a global uproar. Why was this development taken so seriously by authorities worldwide? Firstly, it was realized that this advanced technology is a threat to civil liberties, privacy and freedom of expression and has the potential of converting democracies into virtual autocracies.
Secondly, it created waves across the world by targeting the who’s who of the world including the high and mighty politicians.Thirdly, the application part is important. According to the NSO group, it sells its spyware only to “vetted Government agencies” with a purpose to help them target terrorists and break up pedophile rings and sex and drug trafficking rings. Now, some pertinent questions need to be answered, who broke the news of Pegasus spyware? Who, in India, authorized the spying? and who benefited out of this exercise? The second question is important. Both Union Ministers of Information Technology and Home have not given very clear-cut answer and they are in denial mode. It will be hard to prove who authorized the surveillance without proper investigation of the case. The last question is who stand to gain in this exercise of spying? As usual, the Opposition accused the ruling government of surveillance because the targets included the most important opposition faces. On the other hand, the counter allegation from the ruling party was the timing of the release of the report, just before the commencement of the monsoon session of the Parliament. All said and done, the Pegasus controversy has shown a mirror to those experts and other stakeholders who tend to take the internet and cyber security for granted. The government should treat this incident as a wakeup call and take effective steps to make and implement dedicated cyber security laws to deal with technological advancement in surveillance techniques.
(The writer is a senior journalist and Chairman, Panwar Group of Institutions, Solan, Himachal Pradesh. The views expressed are personal.)
