It is no more a secret that Governments across the
world are indulging in e-surveillance and eavesdropping using
technology and telecom infrastructures. India is no exception to this
practice. Rather India is one of the most endemic
e-surveillance nations in the world. The draconian laws like
Telegraph Law
and Indian
Cyber Law are helping Indian government and intelligence agencies
to indulge in unreasonable and unfettered e-surveillance at anytime
and at any place. There is also an urgent need to bring intelligence
agencies reforms in India as the intelligence
infrastructure of India is in big
mess.
Recently, the telecom giant Vodafone revealed
existence of secret
wires to facilitate e-surveillance by various Governments.
It has been reported that even India has been using this service to
indulge in e-surveillance. We have no constitutionally sound
e-surveillance
laws in India (PDF) as on date. Even e-surveillance
policy of India is missing and there is a complete chaos in this
regard. We have no telecom
security policy of India as well that can prevent
unauthorised e-surveillance and security threats against telecom
infrastructure of India.
India has become notoriously infamous for her
e-surveillance exercises and India cannot afford to maintain this
negative image any further. This is the reason why Narendra Modi
Government may be analysing the e-surveillance projects like The
Central
Monitoring System (CMS) Project of India and Internet
Spy System Network and Traffic Analysis System (NETRA) of India.
In line of this approach, the Communications and
Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday said
the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) would look into
allegations made by Vodafone regarding use of secret wires by India
along with other countries.
The Congress led Government was well known for its
“Anti Constitutional and Pro Surveillance” approach. Only time
would tell whether Narendra Modi led Government would continue this
approach or bring order in the chaos created by the Congress led
Government.
Whatever the case may be, we need to ensure Civil
Liberty Protection in Cyberspace for Indian Citizens “At
All Costs and By All Means”. The digital
life of Indian citizens is not at all safe and is open to
various forms of e-surveillance and eavesdropping. In the absence
of support form Indian Government, Self
Defence is the only viable option left before Indian Citizens to
safeguard their digital lives. The initiatives titled PRISM
Break and Reset
the Net are worth exploring in this regard as a “Starting
Point”.
Source: Cyber Law In India.
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