NEW DELHI: A Union home ministry notification authorising 10 Central agencies to intercept, monitor, and decrypt “any information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer”, created a political storm on Friday, compelling the government to issue a detailed clarification.
While the Centre said the notification does not confer any new powers to the probe agencies, the Opposition went all out against the order calling it an “undemocratic attack on privacy”.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi alleged the government was converting India into a police state.
“It’s only going to prove to over 1 billion Indians, what an insecure dictator you really are,” Rahul tweeted. Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley hit back saying the rules were framed under the UPA government in 2009.
“The Opposition is making a mountain where even a molehill doesn’t exist.”
The home ministry said “every individual case will continue to require prior approval” of the Central and state governments, adding the rules were framed in 2009 when the Congress-led UPA was in power.
But the clarification drew scorn from free internet activists who said it would have dangerous ramifications.
They argued the investigative agencies have now been given a free hand to “snoop” on anybody. Some activists even accused the government of violating the Supreme Court’s landmark judgments on privacy and Aadhaar.
Fine print of 2008 law, 2009 rules
The order is based on Section 69(1) of information technology Act, 2008, read with Rule 4 of IT Rules, 2009. It provides authorisation for interception invoking rule 4 for first time.
This is the first time authorisation orders under Rule 4 have been issued in the 10 years it has been in effect. Rule 3 says an interception can be carried out only on the Competent Authority’s orders