[Marxistindia] Act Against Use of Spyware

[news from the cpi(m)]

November 2, 2019
 
Press Statement
 
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the
following statement:
 
 
Act Against Use of Spyware
 
 
The CPI(M) strongly condemns the hacking of the phones of activists, lawyers
and journalists in India with Israeli Pegasus spyware. WhatsApp itself has
accepted that over 1,400 people were targeted globally including 40 from
India. It might be noted that if phones are hacked, all information on the
phone including WhatsApp or other encrypted messages sent using platforms
such as Telegram or Signal are then available to the agency that hacked the
phone. 
 
Any hacking of personal equipment such as a smart phone or a computer
without a due process is a violation of a person's fundamental right to
privacy as laid down by the Supreme Court. The use of the spyware such as
Pegasus is equivalent to an illegal search and seizure of the data and
information held privately by an individual.
 
The owner of the Pegasus spyware, NSO, has declared that it only sells this
software to government agencies, raising the suspicion that it is an agency
of the government that has bought this software to target activists,
journalists and lawyers. 
 
The government needs to answer whether any of its agencies were involved in
the use of this hacking software, particularly since most of the persons
affected were targeted by the government in May last year. Under law,
hacking peoples phones would constitute a cyber crime. If the government is
not involved in the Pegasus software as it claims, why has it not filed a
FIR and started criminal investigations? While the Cyber & Information
Security Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs has denied purchasing
Pegasus, the government is yet to declare that no other department such as
NTRO, CBI or RAW has purchased it. 
 
The CPI(M) demands that the government come clean on this issue. It must and
order a criminal investigation. The Party also demands the passing of a
comprehensive data protection law which safeguards the rights and privacy of
citizens.
 
 
 
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