The government strategic committee has incorporated a new organization the National Technical Research Organization (NTRO), in which scientists in the Indian Institutes of Technology were involved to acquire technology worldwide were initiated. There is little doubt as to the new Interception technology has aided the nation to defending the terrorist attacks in this secular country. But the negatives of this technology could have far-reaching consequences for our democracy and could even mean its subversion, if in wrong hands. As quoted by one senior security personnel in a leading press journal, that this high end equipment are good at the senior level but when in the hands of an average officer who draws a little over Rs.8000 per month, becomes dangerous. But contrary to this the average Indian knows to what extent corruption has encrypted into the bureaucracy ranks looking at the way newspapers are reporting daily.
The main reason outlaid in the given circumstances is the lack of an appropriate legal framework to regulate its vast, and growing, communications intelligence capabilities. The parliament itself does not have control over curbing of usage of this technology, which strongly states that the technology could undermine the very democracy it was purchased to defend. Infact the Intelligence Bureau sources earlier told 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. Active or passive the interception technology in the right hands is ofcourse a boon, but contrary is a bane on public image.
Interception has been the watch dog since the ages of the monarchs who used to intercept messengers and canary messages to know about the happenings away from their kingdom. But now our very own privacy is at stake. The case of politician Amar Singh phone conversations being recorded with the consent of his service provider is a classical example of how we could be left naked on the public domain with nothing to shield us. Any of our detractors if get an access to such equipment, could prove disastrous to any of us and think the position of the top brass, quite alarming!!
The issue that arises at the moment is that there must be a statutory body to investigate into the malpractices, otherwise the whole problem would become cumbersome. No one will ever know who is being intercepted and by whom.
Sources reveal that India has made massive investments in communications intelligence equipment. Technology like this has helped in identifying the terrorists who had rocked the nation with serial bomb blasts at Delhi 2010. But the very same technology also means someone is watching you. Every email sent, every call made could encrypt your privy, and if in wrong hands could ruin one’s life. Your every online entry could be traced by the miscreants.
