India To Intercept, Monitor, and Decrypt Citizens' Computers

Several readers have shared a report: The Indian government has authorized 10 central agencies to intercept, monitor, and decrypt data on any computer, sending a shock wave through citizens and privacy watchdogs. Narendra Modi's government late Thursday broadened the scope of Section 69 of the nation's IT Act, 2000 to require a subscriber, service provider, or any person in charge of a computer to 'extend all facilities and technical assistance to the agencies.' Failure to comply with the agencies could result in seven years of imprisonment and an unspecified fine. In a clarification posted today, the Ministry of Home Affairs said each case of interception, monitoring, and decryption is to be approved by the competent authority, which is the Union Home Secretary.

Explaining the rationale behind the order, India's IT minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, said that the measure was undertaken in the interests of national security. He added that some form of 'tapping' has already been going on in the country for a number of years and that the new order would help bring structure to that process. 'Always remember one thing,' he said in a televised interview. 'Even in the case of a particular individual, the interception order shall not be effective unless affirmed by the Home Secretary.'

The Internet Freedom Foundation, a nonprofit organization that protects the online rights of citizens in India, cautioned that the order goes beyond telephone tapping. It includes looking at content streams and might even involve breaking encryption in some cases. 'Imagine your search queries on Google over [a number of] years being demanded -- mixed with your WhatsApp metadata, who you talk to, when, and how much [and add] layers of data streams from emails + Facebook,' it said. 'To us this order is unconstitutional and in breach of the telephone tapping guidelines, the Privacy Judgement and the Aadhaar Judgement,'
it asserted.

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