Centre allows 10 agencies to spy on your computers, Opposition slams 'Big Brother syndrome'

Build your skillset: Change is the only constant and with the evolving times an updated skillset would be a handy addition to your resume. Show potential employers what you’ve learned that can be an asset to their business in the post-coronavirus world. (Image Source: Reuters)

In an order that has come under fire from Opposition parties, the Centre on December 20 issued an order that allows 10 central agencies to decrypt, monitor and intercept "any information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer".

These 10 agencies include the Intelligence Bureau (IB), Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), National Investigation Agency (NIA), Cabinet Secretariat (R&AW), Directorate of Signal Intelligence (for service areas of Jammu & Kashmir, Northeast and Assam only) and Commissioner of Police, Delhi.

The order, which was issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, would allow these 10 agencies to peek into any computer.

The Centre has vested these powers in the agencies under Section 69 of the Information and Technology Act, 2000, and Rule 4 of the Information Technology Procedure and Safeguards for Interception, Monitoring and Decryption of Information) Rules, 2009.

According to the order, the subscriber or service provider or any person in charge of the computer resource will be bound to extend all facilities and technical assistance to the agencies. Failing to do so will invite seven-year imprisonment and fine.

According to a report in NDTV, before the order, only data which was in motion could be intercepted. "But now data revived, stored and generated can also be intercepted as powers of seizure have been given," a senior bureaucrat told the channel.

The officer added that while the IB had no seizure powers earlier, the notification has changed that.

The government has come under attack from Opposition parties after the order, with Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala calling it an attack on privacy. "Big Brother Syndrome is truly embedded in NDA's DNA," Surjewala tweeted.

अबकी बार,निजता पर वार!

Modi Govt mocks & flouts Fundamental ‘Right to Privacy’ with brazen impunity!

Having lost elections,now Modi Govt wants to scan/snoop YOUR computers?

‘Big Brother Syndrome’ is truly embedded in NDA’s DNA!

जनता की जासूसी=मोदी सरकार की निन्दनीय प्रवृत्ति! pic.twitter.com/qCe1IocgY8

— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) December 21, 2018

Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury called the order "unconstitutional" and "in breach of telephone tapping guidelines, the Privacy Judgment and the Aadhaar Judgement."

Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel also tweeted, calling the order a "direct assault on civil liberties and personal freedom of citizens."

The Government order giving a blanket approval to electronic surveillance is a direct assault on civil liberties & personal freedom of citizens

— Ahmed Patel (@ahmedpatel) December 21, 2018

All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen Party (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi targeted the Narendra Modi government in his tweet. "Who knew that this is what they meant when they said ‘ghar ghar Modi’," Owaisi tweeted. "George Orwell’s Big Brother is here & welcome to 1984," he added in his tweet.