Through the right prism - Hindustan Times

The revelations by Edward Snowden about the US' PRISM programme have made many in India jittery. The fact that this country was fifth in the pecking order of nations with more than 6.3 billion data under the scanner (as on March 2013) has raised concerns about the seriousness with which the US still sees India as a strategic partner. The ministry of external affairs has said that the issue will be discussed during the Cyber Security Dialogue between the two countries. While US President Barack Obama and his team have defended the actions referring to the arrests and convictions of David Headley (for his plotting and recce of the 2008 Mumbai attacks) and Najibullah Zazi, who was arrested in 2009 as part of the 2009 US al-Qaeda group accused of planning suicide bombings on the New York City subway system, there are a lot of protests in the US itself against such blanket surveillance programmes. Congressman James Sensenbrenner, the key architect of Patriot Act which was passed in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and Richard Clarke, President George W Bush's and President Bill Clinton's key cyber adviser, have expressed anguish that the current efforts are much beyond the scope and intent of the Act. Now that the American Civil Liberties Union has filed a suit against the Obama administration on the issue, it remains to be seen what the judiciary decides. India will have a chance to discuss the issue with the US during the Strategic Dialogue in New Delhi, which is due to take place this month. The issue at stake is the question of privacy. But how much of such discussion will be of consequence remains to be seen as foreign intelligence gathering, which has been bolstered with the help of digital technology, cannot be easily monitored or prevented. At the same time, questions are also being raised on the privacy standards in India particularly with the rising usage of digital technology. In India, there are concerns around the provisions for authorisation of interception in Section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, read with Rule 419 (A) of the Indian Telegraph Rules, 1951, as well as in Section 69 of the Information Amendment Technology Act, 2008 (IT Act), read with the Information Technology (Directions for Interception or Monitoring or Decryption of Information) Rules, 2009. The Supreme Court, in its order of December 18, 1996, had upheld the constitutional validity of interceptions and monitoring under Section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act, but added that telephone tapping would infringe the Right to Life and Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression enshrined in Articles 21 and 19(1)(a), respectively, of the Constitution, unless it was undertaken in the procedures established by law. While the Rules under the IT Act have laid down the guidelines for such monitoring, there is still a trust deficit among the law enforcement agencies and the civil society. However, efforts to have a privacy law are on and the Justice AP Shah-chaired Group of Experts on Privacy has submitted its report last year. It is currently being discussed by the stakeholders. The report has emphasised on self-regulation with legal sanctity and hopefully the final touches to the legislation will take place in the next couple of months. Likewise, the government is likely to announce the cyber security policy that has been cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security. This policy will also be an indicator of the recent thinking within the government as to what extent the balance between security requirements and privacy concerns have been harmonised. Subimal Bhattacharjee was, until recently, Country Head, India, for US defence major General Dynamics The views expressed by the author are personal via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNEHPITTFEXw5LFLkPvl12YcwUjmRg&url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/ColumnsOthers/Through-the-right-prism/Article1-1075882.aspx

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