In view of the government’s notification on December 20 empowering ten agencies to ‘monitor, intercept and decrypt data contained in any computer system’, the Supreme Court has allowed a set of petitions which view these sweeping powers as infringement upon personal privacy. The top court has given the Government of India six weeks to file its reply.
Petitions filed by lawyer Shreya Singhal and Trinamool Congress lawmaker Mahua Moitra among others argue that such orders are against the right to privacy. Outside the Supreme Court in the nation’s capital, Ms. Singhal maintained that the notice ‘violates privacy’ and must be stayed.
As things stood earlier, it was only the Ministry of Home Affairs that could scan the emails and calls of citizens. With this notification, other agencies like the Intelligence Bureau, Narcotics Control Bureau, Enforcement Directorate, Central Board of Direct Taxes, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Central Bureau of Investigation, National Investigation Agency, Cabinet Secretariat (Research and Analysis Wing), Directorate of Signal Intelligence (in Jammu and Kashmir, North-East and Assam only) and the Delhi Police Commissioner will also be invested with these sweeping powers. According to a senior bureaucrat, only ‘data in motion’ could be checked earlier. Data ‘in rest’ can now be intercepted by the above listed agencies. The ‘powers of seizure’ allow them to retrieve data that is stored.
Issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the notification has generated widespread criticism in privacy activists. It is also feared by opposition parties that such forms of cyber monitoring will turn the country into a surveillance state and compromise on the citizen’s right to privacy.
