The central
monitoring system (CMS) of India has reiterated the long
claimed notion of civil liberty advocates that the big
brother is listening. While this may be tolerable to the
extent of genuine law enforcement requirements but a blanket
implementation of the central
monitoring system (CMS) project of India has proved that
the big
brother has exceeded its limits.
Civil
liberty protection in cyberspace is the cherished mandate
of every democratic and constitution abiding government. However,
countries around the world are not only ignoring this obligation but
are also actively working in the direction of violating the same. Spy
software like FinFisher
is openly used by governments around the world.
In shocking news, it has been reported that command
and control servers for FinFisher were found in 36 countries
including India. The malware FinFisher has also tried to
hide itself behind genuine software like Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla
has issued a cease and desist notice to Gamma International
for maliciously using its brand and reputation.
The central monitoring system (CMS) project of India
is one of the most controversial projects about to be launched by
Indian government. It the CMS
project of India is attached with other controversial
projects like Aadhaar; this would be a serious civil
liberty fiasco. The Aadhaar project is already questioned
in the Indian courts and the CMS project would also face similar
fate. The fact is that India must reconcile
civil liberties and national security requirements
immediately.
According to Praveen Dalal, managing partner of New
Delhi based ICT law firm Perry4Law
and leading techno legal expert of Asia, The CMS Project of India is
a good and ambitious project that is required to manage National
Security and Law Enforcement requirements of the country. However,
adequate “Procedural Safeguards” must also be established in the
System so that it is not abused for political and personal reasons,
warns Dalal. The CMS Project would be “Illegal and
Unconstitutional” if implemented in its current form, warns Dalal.
India is giving wrong signals to the entire world.
In the present circumstances it is not wrong to conclude that India
is not only adopting double
standards but is also abdicated
the rule of law. Further, the draconian cyber
law of India must be repealed as piecemeal
actions on the part of various activists would not help us
in the long run.
The PMO must interfere at this crucial stage and
scrap both Aadhaar
and CMS
projects as soon as possible. Recently U.S refused to sign the treaty
that could have regulated Internet in the worst form. U.S. has also
refused
to serve summons upon Internet companies of U.S. citing
constitutional reasons.
India has to mend its ways so that it remains on the side of protection of civil liberties and use e-surveillance in only those cases that are absolutely required.
