Al Jazeera News :
Several Indian government agencies have been armed with sweeping powers to intercept, monitor and decrypt information from any computer in the country, a move that critics say aims to make India the next “Big Brother state”.
After India’s Home Ministry issued a notification on Thursday authorising 10 agencies with the power to tap, intercept and decrypt all personal data on computers and networks in India, opposition parties said the government is attempting to create a “surveillance state”. Among the agencies that are now enabled to exercise these snooping powers are the Research and Analysis Wing, the main foreign-intelligence gathering body, and the Intelligence Bureau report directly to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Congress party chief Rahul Gandhi said this move showed Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “an insecure dictator”. India’s Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the move will help track “terrorists”. “How else will terrorists who use technology extensively be traced? Otherwise, the terrorists will use IT, but the intelligence and investigative agencies will be crippled,” Jaitley tweeted. Privacy advocates argue that widespread government surveillance of this kind will have a “chilling effect” on democratic debate and dissent. In the world’s largest democracy, data security and privacy regulations are still to be framed. Even though the orders are supposed to target everyone, most analysts say they could possibly be used to crack down on critics, rights campaigners and political opponents in advance of a general election that is slated early next year. “This would make data collection from critics and political opponents easier. This will facilitate targeted raids against the opposition and critics.
Several Indian government agencies have been armed with sweeping powers to intercept, monitor and decrypt information from any computer in the country, a move that critics say aims to make India the next “Big Brother state”.
After India’s Home Ministry issued a notification on Thursday authorising 10 agencies with the power to tap, intercept and decrypt all personal data on computers and networks in India, opposition parties said the government is attempting to create a “surveillance state”. Among the agencies that are now enabled to exercise these snooping powers are the Research and Analysis Wing, the main foreign-intelligence gathering body, and the Intelligence Bureau report directly to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Congress party chief Rahul Gandhi said this move showed Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “an insecure dictator”. India’s Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the move will help track “terrorists”. “How else will terrorists who use technology extensively be traced? Otherwise, the terrorists will use IT, but the intelligence and investigative agencies will be crippled,” Jaitley tweeted. Privacy advocates argue that widespread government surveillance of this kind will have a “chilling effect” on democratic debate and dissent. In the world’s largest democracy, data security and privacy regulations are still to be framed. Even though the orders are supposed to target everyone, most analysts say they could possibly be used to crack down on critics, rights campaigners and political opponents in advance of a general election that is slated early next year. “This would make data collection from critics and political opponents easier. This will facilitate targeted raids against the opposition and critics.
