Editorial: Come clean on Pegasus

The latest revelations raise disturbing questions over the conduct of government agencies in the entire episode

The NDA government owes an explanation to the people on the latest media revelations that it had acquired Pegasus spyware from an Israeli company to snoop on political rivals. A fresh political storm has hit the government following the damning expose by ‘The New York Times’ daily which reported that Pegasus and a missile system were the ‘centerpieces’ of a $2-billion deal of sophisticated weapons and intelligence tools firmed up in 2017 during Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel, the first by any Indian Prime Minister. The latest revelations raise disturbing questions over the conduct of government agencies in the entire episode. On the floor of Parliament last year, the Defence Ministry had categorically stated that it had not made any transaction with the NSO Group, the Israeli developer which has claimed that it sells its products only to government agencies. The ‘NYT’ investigative report, which comes ahead of the crucial Budget session, is expected to provide much ammunition to the opposition parties. Last year, an investigation by a global consortium of media outlets showed how the Israeli-made malicious spyware was used by governments around the world to spy on dissidents, political rivals, activists and journalists via their mobile phones. More than 1,000 phone numbers in India were among the nearly 50,000 selected worldwide as possibly of interest to clients of the NSO Group. The Pegasus matter is currently being monitored by a technical committee, comprising experts in computer science, cybersecurity and digital forensics, appointed by the Supreme Court.

Overruling virtually every argument made by the Centre, the apex court had said privacy is not the singular concern of journalists or social activists but of every citizen. Pegasus, the phone hacking software, can switch on a target’s phone camera and microphone, as well as access data on the device, effectively turning the phone into a pocket spy. There is a need for a thorough and impartial probe to get to the bottom of the truth on who ordered the purchase of this cyber weapon, how were the targets selected and who got the surveillance reports. Companies such as NSO operate in a market that is almost entirely unregulated, enabling tools that can be used by authoritarian regimes as instruments of repression. If true, the reports of spying on political leaders, judiciary, media, members of Election Commission and Supreme Court amount to subversion of democracy and flagrant violation of the rule of law and the fundamental right of citizens to privacy. What is more disconcerting is that India does not even have a law for the protection of data privacy. Instead of trying to gloss over the seriousness of the latest media expose, the government must undertake surveillance reforms to protect citizens from illegal hacking and stop using spyware in policing and security.

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