- Vol - XLVIII No. 25, June 22, 2013 Editorials
What was suspected for long stands confirmed; states are monitoring their citizens' conversations.
The suspicion among internet democracy and civil liberty activists that the behemoth databases and servers of Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple and Skype have for long been used by intelligence agencies in the United States (US) now stands confirmed. Edward Snowden, a contractor for the secretive US National Security Agency (NSA), bravely leaked confidential and classified documents to The Guardian in early June which confirmed the existence of an electronic surveillance programme code-named PRISM. Launched in 2007, PRISM enabled the NSA to perform in-depth surveillance on electronic communications and data by accessing servers of several “participating technology companies”.
Since the revelations the companies have denied active participation beyond what is legally permissible under US law – specifically the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008 (FISA) – but the leaked documents suggest that they have gone out of their way to enable the NSA to collect data. The documents point out that the NSA is collecting 200 billion pieces of intelligence every month. The leaks also pointed to other related data mining programmes such as “Boundless Informant” that analysed metadata information captured by PRISM, colour coding data retrieved from around the world based on intensity of surveillance – Iran was where the highest amount of data was gathered and India was fifth in the leaked list. Such metadata are enough to construct behavioural and interest patterns among internet users, so claims that the metadata does not carry much informational value unless it pertained to specific suspects are spurious.
It goes without saying that this surveillance programme run by the US military industrial complex – for want of a better definition a term for the collaboration between the US military establishment and the biggest internet and communication companies in the world – is a massive attack on the right to privacy of billions of users of internet and communication services. US government officials, senators and intelligence spokespersons have defended the programme arguing that it has served the purpose of national security and have added that the programme has been used only for surveillance of foreign subjects. This is doubly unacceptable for it makes a mockery of the trust shown by consumers across the world who sign up for services offered by the internet companies (which claim to operate on the basis of elaborate privacy policies) and shows scant regard for the sovereignty of foreign nations. The world’s super power has been engaged in mass spying of citizens and governments of foreign nations. There is no other way of describing the NSA’s activities.
States today realise that the technology that enables surveillance of the internet and electronic communications is a useful tool to identify and curb voices of dissent. Globally, public attention has been fixated on “authoritarian” China and its use of extensive surveillance and firewall operations to monitor and restrict internet communications domestically for “national security purposes”. As the NSA programmes have shown, the so-called liberal democratic states follow similar methods, on perhaps a much larger scale.
In the US, the so-called “war against terror”, which enabled legislations such as the Patriot Act of 2001 and the FISA amendments, has given the intelligence bodies enormous powers to conduct mass surveillance. These institutions have utilised data in ways that have arguably further fuelled and exacerbated terrorism. For example, surveillance data have enabled intelligence agencies to conduct illegal operations such as drone attacks which have killed thousands of innocents in countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Alarmingly, the Indian state, which itself has been spied upon by the US, has sought to emulate its western counterparts in enacting legislation that would enable similar forms of mass electronic surveillance. The Information Technology Amendment Act of 2008 enables e-surveillance. Government agencies such as the Telecom Enforcement, Resource and Monitoring (TREM) and the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) in collaboration with the Intelligence Bureau have reportedly prepared what is called a Central Monitoring System (CMS) that facilitates collection of call data records and data mining for intelligence purposes. The CMS has been in operation since April 2013, and when combined with the flawed Unique Identification project that seeks to link all databases across government services, it is apparent that the infrastructure for a massive surveillance apparatus is being constructed.
It remains to be seen as to how the US judicial system will react to the submissions by civil rights groups opposing the surveillance programmes of the US state. Will India’s governing authorities realise the dangers of emulating such dystopian surveillance systems? Will India’s civil society and political representatives rise to the occasion to prevent these attacks on our fundamental rights? It is a battle which cannot be evaded.
