Pegasus spyware row: Centre says 'No Unauthorized Surveillance'

The Indian Government on Sunday rubbished the alleged reports of Indian journalists' being targeted by an unidentified spyware 'Pegasus'. Centre amid reports of prominent citizens being spied, made it clear that allegations of surveillance on specific people had no concrete basis or truth associated with it whatsoever, adding that India is a strong democracy and it is committed to ensuring the right to privacy to all its citizens as a fundamental right.

New Delhi: The Indian Government responding to the allegations published in a media report, that several Indian journalists were targeted for surveillance by an unidentified agency using 'Pegasus' spyware, has strongly denied the claims. "The allegations regarding government surveillance on specific people has no concrete basis or truth associated with it whatsoever. In the past, similar claims were made regarding the use of Pegasus on WhatsApp by the Indian State. Those reports also had no factual basis and were categorically denied by all parties, including WhatsApp in the Indian Supreme Court," the Ministry of Electronics and Information and Technology (MeitY) said, adding that the report appears to be a similar phishing expedition, based on opinions to malign the Indian democracy and its institutions.

"India is a robust democracy that is committed to ensuring the right to privacy to all its citizens as a fundamental right. In furtherance of this commitment, it has also introduced the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, to protect the personal data of individuals and to empower users of social media platforms," Ministry of Electronics, Information and Technology added.

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Responding to the reports that well-known journos were snooped upon, the Dr. Rajendra Kumar, Additional Secretary (MeitY) said, "The commitment to free speech as a fundamental right is the cornerstone of India's democratic system. We have always strived to attain an informed citizenry with an emphasis on a culture of open dialogue. Government of India's response to a Right to Information application about the use of Pegasus has been prominently reported by the media and is in itself sufficient to counter any malicious claims about the alleged association between the Government of India and Pegasus. The requests for these lawful interception of electronic communication are made as per relevant rules under the provisions of Section 5(2) of Indian Telegraph Act ,1885 and Section 69 of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2000."

He also added that India's Minister of Electronics & IT had earlier spoken about the issue, including in the Parliament, saying that there has been no unauthorized interception by Government agencies. "It is important to note that government agencies have a well-established protocol for interception, which includes sanction and supervision from highly ranked officials in Central and state governments, for clear stated reasons only in national interest," Kumar said.

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Earlier in 2019, WhatsApp, owned by Facebook, had initiated a lawsuit against NSO, claiming that the messaging application had been used to target over 1400 users including activists, journalists, and bureaucrats in India. WhatsApp acknowledged that the company exploited a vulnerability on its platform to hack into the phones of high-profile individuals. Since the news of the spyware attack first broke, the NSO group has maintained that it sells licenses of its products only to governments and law enforcement agencies. In response to an RTI, the Indian government had denied purchasing the spyware from the NSO Group.

Pegasus is a spyware developed by the Israeli cyber-security firm NSO that can be installed on devices running certain versions of iOS, Apple's mobile operating system, as well as Android devices. Pegasus is capable of reading text messages, tracking calls, collecting passwords, gathering information from apps including iMessage, Gmail, Viber, Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Skype, among other things.

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