Ever since 26/11, India has made massive purchases of communications intelligence equipment from secretive companies from India and abroad. In the absence of effective legal oversight, it threatens the democracy it was bought to defend.
In the summer of 1999, an officer at a Research and Analysis Wing communications station in western India flipped a switch, and helped change the course of the Kargil conflict. RAW's equipment had picked up Pakistan's army chief and later military ruler, Pervez Musharraf, speaking to his chief of staff, General Muhammad Aziz, from a hotel room in Beijing. “The entire reason for the success of this operation,” the RAW officer heard General Aziz saying on May 29, 1999, “was this total secrecy.” He probably smiled.
For the first time, India had hard evidence that Pakistan's army, not jihadists, had planned and executed a war that had brought two nuclear-armed states to the edge of a catastrophic confrontation. RAW's computers established that the voices were indeed those of Generals Musharraf and Aziz, pinpointed their locations – and undermined Pakistan's diplomatic position beyond redemption.
India's strategic community finally awoke to the possibilities of modern communications intelligence, and unleashed a massive effort to upgrade the country's technical capabilities. A new organisation, the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), was set up; scientists in the Indian Institutes of Technology were tapped, and quiet efforts to acquire technology worldwide were initiated.
Late into the night the 26/11 attacks began in Mumbai, that investment paid off: equipment flown in from New Delhi by the Intelligence Bureau allowed investigators to intercept the assault team's communications with the Lashkar-e-Taiba's headquarters in Pakistan. Police forces across the country have since scrambled to purchase similar equipment, making India one of the largest markets for global vendors.
But this isn't good news: India has no appropriate legal framework to regulate its vast, and growing, communications intelligence capabilities. There is almost no real institutional oversight by political institutions like Parliament — which means there is a clear and imminent danger that the technology could undermine the very democracy it was purchased to defend.
Who is selling?
From a trove of documents obtained by The Hindu, working in collaboration with WikiLeaks and an international consortium of media and privacy organisations monitoring the communications intelligence industry, it is evident Indian companies are already offering technologies very similar to the most formidable available in the world.
Himachal Pradesh-based Shoghi — once blacklisted by the government pending investigation of its relationship with corruption-linked former telecommunications Minister Sukh Ram — has become one of the largest suppliers to the Indian armed forces and RAW. It offers a range of equipment to monitor satellite, mobile phone, and strategic military communications.
Shoghi's SCL-3412 satellite communications link monitoring system can, its literature says, even “passively monitor C and Ku-band satellite compressed and non-compressed telecom carriers from Intelsat, Eutelsat, Arabsat, Turksat.” The company also claims its equipment can automatically analyse “bulk speech data” — in other words, listen in and pick particular languages, words, or even voices out of millions of simultaneous conversations taking place across the world.
India's other large communications intelligence firm, Indore-headquartered ClearTrail, says its products “help communication service providers, law enforcement, and government agencies worldwide to counteract the exploitation of today's communication networks, fight terrorism and organised crime.” The company's brochures say it has portable equipment that can pluck mobile phone voice and text messages off the air, without the support of service providers — service providers who must, by law, be served with legal authorisation to allow monitoring.
The Hindu telephoned officials at both companies, and then e-mailed them requesting meetings to discuss issues raised in its investigation. Neither company responded; one said it was barred from discussing technical questions with the media by its terms of contract with its military clients.
Large parts of the most sophisticated equipment, defence sources told The Hindu, come in from Israel — itself a beneficiary of a special relationship with the United States. “Israeli vendors often tell us that they're charging extraordinarily high prices in return for breaking embargos on sharing these technologies,” one officer said, “but there's no way of knowing this is the case.”
“If we get what we need,” he said, “we're willing to pay — there's no point quibbling over a few million dollars.”
Ever since 26/11, companies like Shoghi and ClearTrail haven't been short of customers: police forces have queued up to purchase passive interception technologies, which allow them to maintain surveillance not just on phone numbers specified in legally-mandatory warrants from the Home Secretary, but on all conversations in an area, or region. There are even cases of out-of-state operations: the Delhi Police have periodically maintained a passive interception capability at the Awantipora military station in Jammu and Kashmir, an act with no basis in law. The Army also has significant passive interception capabilities along the Line of Control (LoC) — which also pick up civilian communication.
Computers at key net hubs
India's National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) has also deployed computers fitted at key internet hubs — the junction boxes, as it were, through which all of the country's internet traffic must pass. Police forces in several States, among them Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh, have followed suit, with smaller variants of the same technology.
The risks of this proliferation of technology have become evident over the last two years. In Punjab, one of four passive interception units is reported to be missing, feared to have been lost to a political party or corporate institution. Andhra Pradesh actually shut down its passive interception capabilities after it accidentally intercepted sensitive conversations between high officials. Karnataka officials also accidentally intercepted conversations involving a romantic relationship between a leading politician and a movie star — while Mumbai has had several scandals involving unauthorised listening-in to phones owned by corporate figures and movie stars.
Intelligence Bureau sources told The Hindu they had been working, for the past several months, to get States to shut down the 33 passive interception units in their possession — but with little success. The pervasive attitude in a federal or quasi-federal polity seems to be: if the Centre can do it, why can't we?
Police do require warrants to tap individual phones, but in practice authorisations are handed out with little thought. In one notorious case, the politician Amar Singh's phone conversations were recorded with the consent of his service provider on the basis of what turned out to be a faked government e-mail. Mr. Singh's personal life became a subject of public discussion, but no one has yet been held accountable for the outrageously unlawful intrusion into his privacy.
Last year, journalist Saikat Datta authored a disturbing exposé, alleging the NTRO's passive interception capabilities were being misused for political purposes — and even activities closely resembling blackmail. Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram denied such activities were taking place, although he has no supervisory power over the NTRO — but there has been no investigation.
The fact is that the government has no real interest in rigorous oversight. The Intelligence Bureau, for example, has long been summoning call data records for individuals from service providers with no legal cause, allowing it to maintain a watch on behalf of the Union Home Ministry of contacts maintained among journalists, politicians, corporate figures, and government.
In the absence of a full investigation into malpractices, and proper oversight, there is simply no way of knowing who might, and in what circumstances, have been targeted through passive interception means — and that's the whole problem.
“When an officer on a salary of Rs.8,000 a month has pretty much unrestricted access to this kind of technology,” a senior Maharashtra Police officer admitted, “things will go wrong, and have gone wrong.”
Earlier this year, Congress spokesperson and Member of Parliament, Manish Tewari, introduced a private member's bill that would enable Parliamentary oversight over the intelligence services — the worldwide pattern in democracies. “The advancement of communications interception warrants that a very robust legal architecture to protect the privacy of individuals needs to be put in place,” he says. “The intrusive power of the state has to be counter-balanced with the civil liberties guaranteed by the Constitution.”
In his case, no one seems to have been listening.
Ever-larger investments
India is set to make ever-larger investments in these technologies, making the case for oversight ever more urgent. In 2014, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), aided by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), is scheduled to launch India's first dedicated spy satellite, the Rs.100-crore communications intelligence satellite, tentatively named CCISat. Like similar systems operated by the United States, Russia, and Japan, among others, CCISat will suck up gigabites of electronic information from its orbital position 500 kilometres above the earth, passing it on to military supercomputers that will scan it for information of military and intelligence value.
From the public sector giant, Bharat Electronics, India's principal electronics intelligence manufacturer, we know that CCISat is just a small part of the country's overall spy technology programme: in 2009-2010, it supplied some Rs.700 crore worth of electronic warfare equipment, and was scheduled to make deliveries worth Rs.900 crore in 2010-2011. Electronic warfare systems, both offensive and defensive, were reported to make up over half its order book of Rs.15,000 crore last year.
Larsen & Toubro, as well as the Tatas' Strategic Electronics Division, have also expanded their capacities to meet an acquisitions drive that Indian military officials estimate will cost the country Rs.22,500 crore (about $4.5 billion) before the end of the decade.
This may be money well spent: there can be little doubt that communication intelligence has contributed significantly to defending India. However, the failure to regulate the technology will have far-reaching consequences for our democracy — and could even mean its subversion.
Keywords: The Hindu, WikiLeaks, SpyFiles, espionage technologies, spying on citizens, CCISat, Indian spy satellite
Problem would be when government would judging you for intention or non-intentional time or punishments by our phone calls, till then I am perfectly fine. We are lucky enough to know this too that we are being monitored.
One quote for all who support this move of the governments...
Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have either one.
- Benjamin Franklin
What I agree:
1. In a nation like ours, we need severe surveillance to keep the terrorists out of harming us Indians.
2. Military has the responsibility to save the nation and proactively guard the nation, its wealth and its citizens. They need modern warfare tools to carry out their work.
3. Even awareness of such tools will inject fear into many emerging evil minded citizens who think of harming their own brothers and sisters for the sake of some traitors' lies.
What I do not agree on:
1. Having such technology accessible to the police. Even if we assume majority of our police officers are faithful to their duty, even 1% evil minded senior officers can cause significant damage to innocent civilians.
2. Our political system is broke long time ago. We see anti-corruption crusaders being crushed by our own govt. Given this, having access to intercept sensitive personal data will easily allow them to twist the truth and harass. This may lead to dictatorship, and is unfortunately a truth
it is very good;congratulations to the hindu as published in front page
to alert the people who is reading headings & front page.we wish to know
it is possible to get the conversations if i required for a particular
day & time;
Proliferation of such technologies mixed with thoroughly corrupt governance is a sure recipe for an impending disaster. These are seeds for a new kind of unquestionable autocracy where the public is controlled by the select few in the name of defending democracy. On the other hand, how about media using such equipment to expose corrupt deals?
Ninety eight% of the population in India, middle class, upper middle class and the poor have nothing to hide. It is the rich, super rich and the powerful politically have a private life to hide. These people are not affected by terrorism. It is a small price we have to pay for the "big brother to watch and listen", to protect our country in general.
The author and the publisher- by letting the article appear in its edition- seems to be working for some covert organisation. Both of you should worry about these technologies, if so since what most of the common man in India would not care for whether they are being monitored or not- at least when it comes about the security of our nation. Let them monitor us. Let them punish us if any un-patriotic or anti-national activities come up from our side. Tan Man Dhan Tum par Kurbaan, Jiyo Jiyo Ay Hindustan will still be what we will utter. Anything for the peace and intergrity of the country is acceptable and there should be no compromise in dealing with the securitry threats we face here. Wishing all the best to our government in usng these state-of -the atr technologies in safeguarding the interests of the nation and protecting us. By giving out the name of our spy satellite program, the paper has done a very wrong and unpatriotic thing. The Hindu should leave its Love China stand.
Wrong word in the title for the story; It should have said 'The government is snooping on us'.
This is an excellent article! It is really easy to get carried away and hand over our freedom when faced by a threat - and it is only natural! But it should be noted that while it is important to have a state of the art reconnaissance capability to combat ever-evolving- enemies, it must be bound by an effective constitutional framework to prevent misuse. An analogy would be - People may be legally allowed to carry guns for self protection in special situations. But the law prohibits killing of another person and has harsh punishments for those who don't abide. Does this prevent all the gun-crimes? No, but it certainly deters a person from committing them. How effectively the law is enforced also has an effect on this. Surveillance also, is like a gun, albeit subtle maybe; And as cleverly pointed out by the author, in hands of people like us; And historically, people have been known to misuse the power in their hands; And having an effective law to govern it would not be a bad idea.
This is a good article with very valid concerns. It is very important that proper processes and controls be put in place to keep pace with technology. Sure these technologies are great for security and therefore a must. No one can say no to that. But in a country like India what is probably (my guess) now limited to ruling parties spying on opposition folks due to limited technology & manual resources, can evolve into a situation where those with access to power could keep track on anyone including number of private citizens due to advanced automated technology. For example, you surely dont want your business talks 'listened to' by any policeman or some telecom staff and sold to your competitor without any fear of punishment, do you. Its not for no reason that developed democracies like those in Europe despite having all their security fears and spying mechanisms are also paranoid about privacy protection.
the fear of terrorism is inflated more than the fear of corruption in our country and others as well... this surely serves those who stash away unaccounted money in foreign accounts and endlessly lament about terrorism, when they themselves are the biggest threat to our nation. these intelligence equipment bought in the name of national security serve 2 purposes, one being the deals with companies both indian and foreign which help many earn much more black money, the second : those in power will use it for their own benefit. but the biggest threat to our nation corruption simply thrives on such overinflated fears...
we should not be against these surveillance system as benefits are many till these data are not misused,after all national security is above all other interests even we have compromise on some fundamental rights..hope this story will wake up parliament and they make some regulation so it couldn't be misused...
So what does the reporter wants now all Indians should start opposing this investment and raise voice against the govt. I am open to every survielience if it is in national interests because I am not a terrorist and I have nothing to hide. It's a good news that our intelligence agencies are not sleeping, they are monitoring our moves. I think the need of this technology is more for India than any other nation even more than US, because we have anti social elements in our society.
For those of you who are not concerned about this...you soon will be. I have read many comments in which many state they would deal with this in order to be safe. Look at the United States who enacted unconstitutional acts like the PATRIOT ACT. Now they have the ability to listen to conversations and conduct searches without a search warrant. This is going against everything America stands for. My friends in India will be going through the same thing. No matter how democratic a government, the hunger for more power and more control still exists. This is how it starts and the fact that there are no law regulating the use of this technology will only give them more liberty.
Why to raise hue and cry about the information privacy, when the intention is national security? Corporate like Google and FB keeps on collecting our personal information/ web behavior to better their online marketing. We do provide all personal information - ID and address proof to various banking and service provider. These can be used for any illegal/fraudulent purpose. If an 8k salaried policeman can do, same vulnerability is true with an ill-paid BPO executive? I have liked The Hindu over a decade for its brave, truthful and unbiased reporting but fail to appreciate the kind of sensitive information divulged out in reporting this article, along with equally mass-paranoia creating headline. Its media responsibility to raise awareness and caution the reader and policy maker, but should have sanitized out the sensitive details.
People are missing the point. If there is no regulation or oversight, where does the monitoring stop? Everything and Everyone becomes fair game to have their calls, text, emails listened in on and read. People who state that they HAVE to give up some freedoms to remain safe are simply scared. And fear leads to the end of Democracy and the beginning of Totalitarianism. Remember the only reason you are scared is because they have told you to be scared. Ask yourself, were you afraid before the news scared you. And who is the news controlled by? Just ask yourself that!
Some of the comments here really show, we Indians are now thinking maturedly. Yes if this can protect us from anti social elements, we can accept it as the most useful tool of civilization. But as stated in the article, its all about regulation. What ever good we try to do is getting diluted by few unthoughtful people in the system.
see the case of united states of America....wats wrong in their democracy?they hav been doing this for years......plss stop publishing news regarding national security for just increasing ur circulation.......
Hindu has done a moral work in publishing the facts intended basically to its readers on national security and government efforts on national security. It is different matter if some politicians in power use it to settle personal scores on their opponents by applying this technology like signal intercepting of mobile phone and tap phones. This is a criminal act changeable by law in force. We are in the world threatened by disgruntled terrorists, who are not aware of their real goals. India is no exception. It is in same level with other advanced countries using modern technologies to be safe from enemy outfits. Right now India is encountering tribulations from adversaries who are entrenched in our neighboring countries.
The goes in details of mentioning the companies which are supplying
these equipments, i think it is of defence importance not to do so. What
if terrorist attacks are carried out on them and secret information
about these equipments be stolen away across the border. Will this
article hold the responsibility of putting the security of country at
risk....
Every step taken by govt., bureaucracy or intelligence services has
some positives and negatives. It's the magnitude of these +ves and -
ves that matters. It's true that some undeserving people have
unauthorized access to the privacy of very high authorities or
personalities because they are in that position, like in the case of
Mr. Amar Singh. But in the case of digital interception, people
usually won't mind as the primary purpose of these interception is not
to look into the personal life of people but to counter security
threats to the country. To check a terrorist boarding a metro train,
you must frisk all the persons as you cannot tell who is the
terrorist. And this is the most efficient way to filter out the
terrorist. As One doesn't mind getting frisked, one must not mind
getting their phone calls intercepted for the sake of national
security.
Hey this article was very useful in getting to know how information is
is being intercepted by unorganized elements. Thanks to 'The Hindu' for
this article !
I'm truly shocked to note readers have commented in support of the growing surveillance
state. Clearly we all want to be 'safe' but are we really safer by advocating any form of state
surveillance, that is not subject to water tight oversight? A couple of points: A) as the
Americans' tragically learnt in th aftermath of 9/11, an over dependancy on technical intel (
signal intercepts, satellite imagery etc) results in loss of traditional human intel capabilities.
So whilst electronic warfare is necessary, it can also be a distraction from developing
reliable human assets B) the argument cannot be we are against the State using high tech
methods in assisting national security purposes but rather the absence of genuine legal
frameworks to regulate these powers poses a danger to us all C) the technology has
become cheap enough for not only governments but other malicious parties to deploy. D)
Indias' intelligence agencies have a long history of engaging in political intelligence
gathering.
Kudos to Praveen for a very balanced non-sensational style of reporting.
While democracies would want parliamentary oversight on such surveillance activities, it is ironical that citizens are more worried about misuse by politicians who are part of the parliamentary process.
As citizens we should be clear about what we want - do we want to prevent misuse by politicians for political purposes or misuse by officials (in the security setups) against individuals
To all those who criticize this article, I have one thought - you will never understand democracy. Yes, central govt. needs to have this electronic monitoring equipments, what this article state is that, we need to have proper law in place and without that we will live in a state where policing would spiral out of our control (like how its in US). It's unlawful to tap into anything - full stop. Police officers would use this as a tool to blackmail someone and use it for monitory purposes. Our non-democratically elected home minister PC is another pain for our country.
Thank God!
No amount of intelligence can cover the ignorance!
We should worry only about some wasteful expenditure.
India must not fear Pakistan & Vice Versa,
Just in case Pakistan is ran over & obliterated, being the biggest emerging market in the World, India must know who is next.
Outside the British engineered Kashmir dispute, both the countries share mutual interest to survive the Capitalist Corporate onslaught for an economic takeover.
Period.
The article explaining communication intelligence equipments importance is knowledgable and well written. while reading this article, anyone can easily understand about the importance of communication for security and progress. This equipments should be used to prevent terror attacks in coutry for the development and used for citizens welfare not for personal matter.
The Hindu has become another wiki Leak...Looking for Sensation...
Every thing is fair in Love and War.When India is at the front line
in fighting terrorism and other kind of anti national and anti social
activities all these spy technologies are need of the hour. Nation
first. Collateral damages are always there....more in this fast
changing and demanding scenario which has caused much worry to the Intelligence agencies and Security Forces.
"tick tock tick tock i have a speaking clock in my room, push a button and the world goes boom". These are premenitions of a dark horizon that is slowly spreading over the sky -un-noticed, undeterred - Just think of this, every person having a mobile phone can be spied on and with absolutely no regulation, it can be anyone - good or the feared bad - who can sneak peek into your life. We may all ignore this by saying that we are law abiding citizens, but what we are doing is playing ourselves in the hands of such forces. I commend the "The Hindu" in this regard, they have put up a brave effort that no other newspaper does and bringing out such an explosive piece. Some of the situations described in the article were worrisome, romantic relationships, equipment theft, all this can lead to more problems than solution without a regulatory body. I implore the Hindu to publish regularly on this and raise the voice of privacy protection which is a fundamental right of every person.
When it comes to national security and threat to the society, various kinds of communications intelligence is totally justified. The same technology is being used as a means of intrusion into the personal lives of people with the intent of getting personal information for political reasons, personal vendattas, gains etc, esp. in a country like ours that have inadequate legal provisions regarding private rights. In some western countries passive intelligence surveillance by government agencies and authorities on private citizens should have judicial authorization because the right to privacy has constitutional protection. If somebody has been subjected to unlawful surveillance then they could claim compensation under the law. In our country, controlling and monitoring comm.tech. is the need of the hour and it should be done through legislative means.
Its ok if when you say what we have achieved with our communication capabilities and express the need for regulating it. But whats the need to make public the country's plans like a spy satellite in 2014?? this is compromising on national security... I dont expect it from Hindu
The author of this article makes a genuine point, but given the circumstances what kind of choices do we have? To me security always comes before personal liberty, but are we all willing to concede that extra personal freedom which is guaranteed by our constitution. But having said that it is also a very genuine concern in India that these kind of technoligies always stand a risk of being misused against political opponents or to target a particular community.But taking a cue from the USA, after 9/11 they have passed the patriot act which has caused innumerable cases of injustice to public, but eventually they have managed to stop any other attack on their soil.So the sacrifice is definitely worth the ends.
Wonderful article. Civil Society should NOTE. Parliament should discuss and pass the Bill quoted by The Hindu.
Its a pathetic situation where technology acquisition to guard the democracy is being utilized for the subversion of that very democracy.It's bad to decode the conversation after the actual damage has been done,when it comes to civilian lives and extremely interested when it comes to the probing of private lives.
It is a sad commentary that such a highly intelligent and powerful tool to be used for national security is being made available to the corrupt politicians for petty gains in powerplay. This only leads to communalisation of politics . I hope that saner council prevails in our intelligence community and they deny the politicians access to such petty politicians and they guard our country by their integrity.
Very good article with clear ramification effect on the the need of the nation to build security systems and the need to regulate the process to protect privacy of citizens. Yes, I agree the we need strong regulation to protect privacy but, I'm also glad to read there are indigenous technology companies having capability to develop these technologies.Great work as always Hindu & the thanks Wikileaks. Hope this eye opener will lead to strong regulator frame work.
i don't think intelligence people will care about anything related to common man,its of no use,its not breach of privacy.....but privacy of corrupt politicians and of people doing illegal activity can be misused which is also good for the country....so clean people have nothing to fear...
Good to hear that our country is standing at par with the technology advancement with other countries but unfortunately we have not been succeeded as were supposed to be in preventing terrorist /criminal activities, instead used by politically motivated people undermining the freedom granted by our constitution.
Wonderful article giving both pros and cons insight of the technology but as it seems it is more offensive than defensive requires an effective regulatory authority which govt must think upon.
Whatever information is getting out of it, is being used by Government
against its opposition. As far as terrorists are concerned, they are will
aware of it and know to escape from this.
I am extemely proud and happy that R&AW and brother agencies are doing a wonderful job inspite of our decrepit theoreticians of gloom who cry hoarse that their privacy is invaded.Law abiding citizens have nothing to fear, only the likes of Kasabs and Radias have to.
Its gratifying to see that the majority of commentators of the article have expressed similar views.
In today's world,even if you stifle the functions of intelligence services,the advantage will go to terrorists who will still have accessto all sensitve info. The need of the hour is we all should back up the services instead of indulging in mudslinging.
It is not what this technology can do for us that we need to worry about. It is what we're willing to do to ourselves that we need to give deep thought to. In the hands of monkeys, even garlands will not remain beautiful. In the hands of the corrupt, this technology will invariably be used to fight the age old battles of politics, power and money.
Use of this kind of technology is very dangerous for democracy.This can lead to a state where a political party is spying on its rival.How ever this technology has a positive side also.This can stop events like 26/11.So to use this technology we must have a strong legislation and a regulating body,to look after the case of misuse.
Technology meant to protect us from Terrorism is used by politicians for personal benefits,God knows they can sell your own country to terrorist
I am glad to know that India is using effectively all the available technologies to counter terrorists. As we have been wounded repeatedly by Islamist terrorists it is a need to be a step ahead. My worry is not the use or misuse of these technologies. Who released the info about the uses of these high tech applications? What is their interest for this high sensitive info going public? If a news paper can get so much info how much more the spies of our enemies knows? How much of our national security is compromised? India should guard its intelligence, not wash it in the public. India govt should answer to citizens, how come its capabilities are revealed to news papers. Is our missile technology, nuclear technology and other hard earned technologies safe guarded?
National Security is more important than right to privacy. Thumbs up to
intelligence agencies. People should welcome such moves rather than
being outrightly cynical. Sadly we are becoming a nation which is more
concerned about human rights of terrorists and maoists rather than of
our own policemen and security personnel who gets killed regularly.
Technology must be leveraged to improve security architecture, there can
be some safeguards too to prevent mis-use of data.
When an officer on a salary of Rs.8,000 a month has pretty much unrestricted access to this kind of technology, a senior Maharashtra Police officer admitted, "things will go wrong, and have gone wrong." This summed up the entire dilemma. I think it is time our governments tried looking at issues holistically. An unbiased and very well-written article.
I'm amused to see comments panning the article from some of the readers who seem to have missed the wood for the trees. This is a brilliant eye-opener of an article. It brings out clearly the good and the bad of this use of technology and argues the case for creating a regulatory mechanism to ensure that the bad is minimised. What's wrong in that? It is perfect writing - balanced, sensible and both democratically as well as intellectually correct. This is wonderful journalism - keep it up - and this is the reason I read The Hindu and not the other rubbish that passes off nowadays as print media. Citizens will do well to support the likes of people like Mr. Manish Tiwari on his actions in this particular regard.
The article is good. But why publish it? Is it not like revealing our own security plans? Any information, small or big, might affect the country. Its good that we have improved our security. But I don't think it should be made known to people. We only need to give assurance about our security and that should be done through government's acts in curbing attacks - not assurance by revealing "this is our plan in place"
Everything What the NTRO and the Indian government are trying to do is totally fine. But as the pointed out by the author, there must be a regulatory committee which frames rules for these organizations so that they don't transgress their limits.I am very sure, any citizen of any country will compromise on his/her Privacy to a extent,If results in averting a terror strike. The Regulatory Committee make sure,they don't cross this limit.To add a point, It is because of this,The tapping of phones,CIA was able to predict the 26/11 attack. Though Indian Government was informed of it, We didn't the necessary action.
Information gathering will not make much of a difference in fighting Terrorism or Corruption or Other crimes. Information is already available with the Govt. for 50 years or more. It is the WILL to ACT that is the missing piece in addressing Criminal acts. Many people think more education implies less corruption. This is totally naive assumption. Educated people can be on the contrary more corrupt. We have plenty of examples of that. Similarly many people think more intelligence means more effective Crime control. However, this is not true. There are thousands of tips, cases and complaints with Police which are yet to be acted upon. There are tens of thousands of cases before Courts which are yet to be acted upon. Information gathering is not the issue. It it the next step which is the issue.
Though the governments initiative are good. It need to take the people in confidence. And for the article, it is very knowledgeble. People who misuse d information may be punished strictly.
1) How can The Hindu claim high moral ground to proscribe espionage, when the source of much of the information is WikiLeaks? Didn't WikiLeaks illegally record conversations? The Hindu also supports when Niira Radia's phones are tapped (though after months of the tapes becoming public), yet it denounces phone tapping in general! In both cases, the paper argues, it was in larger public interest. Is it always possible know the outcomes beforehand? Why doesn't the paper have a clear moral stand? 2) It is taken for granted that the big powers record almost every communication in the world. Then, is it not imperative for the Indian government to acquire such capabilities? What legal recourse does an Indian have against his/her conversation recorded by, say, CIA? We certainly need more accountability in our intelligence agencies, where, even illegal recording of toilet users take place, but the paper must have a clear stand without being selective.
I think it's cool that India is improving upon its communication equipment.
Let the BIG BROTHER listen everything. If they can stop an attack with I am Ok with it.
Its a breach of privacy but National security is more important. If there are concerns about this public, then a privacy law can be introduced as they have done in US. People need to understand, that there is give and take in every aspect and when it comes to national security, no one should be allowed to go un-screened.
Good. There is no need to fear for a law abiding citizen. In the current world such measures are necessary to protect the citizens' lives. Only wrong doers need worry and make noises.
When the Islamic terrorists Organizations across the world are putting Hi-Tech equipments in use for their acts of terror and destruction of human lives and properties in the countries targeted by them, no country will be safe and secure if it does not improve it's eavesdropping technology to match and preempt the designs of the terrorists. As our country is in the cross wires of the terrorists, our government did a good thing in paying the required attention in this matter. But every benefit brings forth in it's wake some side effects. Abuse of facilities for purposes other than they are intended for is every where and in India it is always on the high side. There is no other go but to bear with them.
I'm glad to hear of such news and it makes me proud. I wish they can translate these invisible eyes and ears into meaningful settlements and interceptions of unforeseen threats to our motherland. India has got to do much more than this and it has got to play the bigger role in the world's stage. Shed that cloak of fear and transcend into a Maurya/Vikramaditya style of power projection and let the world know who India is and will be.
Contrary to the article, I would support such intelligence gathering as long as it is not misused by party in government for its own uses like spying on other parties. Had we gathered good information during 26/11/2008 mumbai operations, our forces could have done a much effective job. Monitoring is there and we need it, when we go to public places there are plenty of police persons who are there to make sure no one is involved in any criminal acts but we never question that then how can we let criminals and terrorists use digital media to their nefarious purposes. Also considering number of phone calls made by 500+ million Indians who use telephone services daily is too large, it is practically impossible to listen to everyone's conversations. Instead sophisticated machine learning algorithms are used which can decipher the conversation and make sense out of it, and only if someone is plotting something it would report it to humans.
brilliant article as always. Thanks, The Hindu. I like the unbiased, extremely professional style of reporting which covers views of all sides without any bias in the tone and manner of the article itself in the case of certain sensitive issues. Reading your news paper since i was 13 y.w.(young world) and i love this online edition. I can still read the hindu although im half a world away. `thanks.
After so many terror attacks, not only India, almost all the Governments have become paranoid about security and are doing everything they can gather intelligence. Going by this article, India government should be having a robust intelligence gathering mechanism but unfortunately we still are witnessing terror attacks on Indian targets. So what are these investments used for? To gather information and bully political opponents and civilians? Parliament must make sure that these intelligence agencies are made answerable to political executive and bolster the civil liberties enshrined in the constitutions. With the level of comittment displayed by political parties on varios critical issues, one can only hope and wait.. wait... wait... and wait
I want to congratulate Praveen Swami for writing about a very pertinent issue. In my opinion Praveen is the best reporter on intelligence issues in the country. Communication technology is changing in a manner and speed which is beyond the capacity of imagination of our bureaucracy and ruling establishment. Issues that
look trivial and exaggerated can become tools of blackmail and
subversion of free speech. One can eavesdrop on other peoples
conversation and track their movement via gps without much difficulty.
There is tons of personal information on the web which can be easily
mined. We urgently need a legal framework so that this information is
not misused by any individual or agency for personal gains and
subverting free speech.A very simple example is Amar Singh Story or
Nira Radia tapes.One can have any views about personal life of these
people but it is appalling that no action has been taken against
anybody who taped all this information, a clearly illegal act.
Those who would give up Essential Liberty, to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety
~ Benjamin Franklin
On one hand people are complaining that the government does not listen to the common
man. But then, when the government actually listens to everybody, people complain again
I wonder about the last sentence of the article: "This may be money well spent: there can be little doubt that communication intelligence has contributed significantly to defending India".
The government's eavesdropping on its own citizens is but one concern. When the government purchases "Intelligence equipments " from companies especially from abroad where is the guarantee that those foreign companies will not put deliberately devices in those equipments to eavesdrop on the very same government to which they sell the equipments. It is my understanding that when Iraq as a " friendly country " of the west bought equipments from countries such as UK, USA etc. those friendly countries put bugs in those equipments so much so during gulf war the western countries could track every movement of Iraqi forces. For heaven's sake let not India buy guns from foreign countries to shoot at its own people.
Spot on! It's about time illegal surveillance was exposed to the light. I say illegal because
citizens are entitled to privacy but when an IB team parks down the road from my house in
Delhi, actvates a signal interceptor and picks up all my mobile phone calls 'accidentally' as
they're really looking for possible terrorist activity, that's a breach of my rights. A) the
equipment allows them to tap phones without going to the service provider( gsm encryption
was broken long back) B) the equipment is often deployed without target specific info,
rather sent to particular areas of potential activity in hope intel is harvested C) huge
amounts private communications are intercepted in the name of national security & we
have no idea how long this data is stored for. Modern storage could mean indefinitely. D)
the Govt bans citizens from using encryption, allowing not only them but various parties to
intercept sensitive communications. E) IB is essentially a political intelligence agency.
What's the big deal if Govt is listening! This is good news. This is good for good people and bad for bad people. Just like a CCTV monitor in a shopping mall.
The author has misinformed knowledge on the subject.These
devices can not be used easily against people. Any way people
indulging in crooked deals will be foolish to use communication
facilities.Electronic intelligence is very much a part of our
defence in peace time.People involved in strategic planning and
ops should guard their tongue and not use communication
networks. Gen Musharaff was foolish to talk to his Corps
Commander but modern educated and wise commanders keep
their lips sealed.We are doing the right thing in investing in all
these equipment and crooked politicuans should also be careful.
As long as this technology is being used to defend my country I won't
mind getting monitored. But if it is being used for political purposes
then HELL NO!
Already the cental govt is reeling under pressure and weighed down by numerous problems.
this article adds fuel to the fire.
Forget English man
We say in chaste tamil,
Venda punnil, vel paichuvathu.
It is good article, and very informative. It is good to know the law enforcement agencies in India are successfully using new modern technologies to keep India safe from powerful Terrorist organizations.
The article does NOT explain effectively how the use of modern communication technology by the law enforcement agencies would be harmful to the democracy in India. The law enforcement agencies in all democratic countries are under very high pressure as the terrorist are using innovative way to destroy the democratic institution. I, being telecommunication engineer, am rather happy to know that Indian enforcement agencies are as smart as their counter part in advanced countries to track terrorist.
State's security is paramount. If there is an iota of security getting
hampered, "government should listen" and do the needful. In this
generation, war is fought with communication equipment, more than guns.
I'm sorry Hindu, i'm not alarmed.
If the security forces dont do anything, people will point fingers. Now when they are trying to modernize and be a step ahead of terrorists/criminals also people want to point fingers? What do you expect them to do?? Im sorry but I do not agree with this kind of negative reporting. We all have to compromise on some rights and privacy when it comes to national security.
If this is going to make me and my family secure, I dont mind living
with this oversight. I would rather live with this than being killed on
the streets by terrorists.
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