INDIAN GOVT USES SURVEILLANCE TOOLS BOUGHT FROM ISRAELI FIRMS TO SNOOP ON CITIZENS: REPORT

Thu 31 August 2023:

The Narendra Modi-led Indian government is using powerful surveillance tools bought from Israeli firms to spy on the citizens, a recent Financial Times report claims. The report titled ‘India’s communications backdoor attracts surveillance companies’ has shed light on how India’s communications monitoring systems are creating ‘backdoors’ for surveillance companies to “enable the government to snoop on 1.4 billion citizens.”

According to the report, the surveillance equipment, procured from companies like Cognyte and Septier, are installed on subsea cable landing stations and data centres. As telecom companies are mandated to install the equipment, it grants India’s security agencies access to personal data and communications of the citizens.

The Israel-based company Septier has reportedly sold its ‘lawful interception technology’ to telecommunication groups including Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio, the Vodafone Idea, and Singapore’s Singtel. As per its promotional video, Septier extracts “voice, messaging services, web surfing and email correspondence” of targets. Cognate provides other surveillance tools to India.

In 2021, Meta alleged that Cognyte was among several companies whose services were being used to track nearly 50,000 journalists, human rights activists, and politicians in multiple countries including the US, Israel, China, and Saudi Arabia. It did not mention India.

The FT report quoted four people, who had worked on submarine cable projects in countries all over the world, as saying, “India is unusual. It openly requires telecom companies to install surveillance equipment at subsea cable landing stations and data centres that are approved by the government as a condition of operation.”

India is not alone in having a more permissive legal interception regime. Countries like Uganda and Rwanda have similar interception legislation.

In 2013, Snowden leaks revealed that the US and the UK intelligence agencies were engaged in mass surveillance via backdoor arrangements with telecom companies.

In 2021, Indian Opposition party leaders, journalists, and activists targeted the Modi government for using Pegasus spyware.

The Washington Post had reported on the Pegasus spyware, highlighting the “military-grade spyware licensed by an Israeli firm to governments (for tracking terrorists and criminals) hacked mobile phones through a link and secretly recorded emails, calls, and text messages. The software was used to primarily targeted journalists, human rights activists, politicians, business executives etc.

As per a report published by The Wire, the personal data protection bill passed in this monsoon session of Parliament has been criticised for being one that protects governments from scrutiny and not citizens, providing legal cover for surveillance. Critics and activists say, “the government’s favourite catchphrase ‘as may be prescribed’ is the highlight of this DPDP Act. It has been used 28 times in a 21-page Act with 44 sections. The ambiguity has been kept so that the government can take arbitrary decisions.”

-Siasat

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