Citizens’ privacy laws inadequate, say experts

In light of allegations against Essar group for allegedly tapping and recording conversations of corporate honchos and Cabinet ministers, legal experts says that the laws protecting citizens’ right to privacy are inadequate.

Policy experts and advocates say that while agencies can legally wire tap phones, there is high scope for misuse.

“The government is pushing for laws and legal framework that will allow for no (and less) encryption of data. “Less encryption that during the transmission of any message whether voice or data, any party can intercept it and read it,” said a technical expert.

Raman Jit Singh Chima, global policy director, Access Now says that the issue of phone tapping came to legal scrutiny nearly a decade ago when the People’s Union of Civil Liberties [PUCL] filed a PIL requesting the apex court to clarify the law on the point of electronic tapping and interception.

“After this, the court laid down directions governing phone tapping and directed that a tapping order will be issued only after authorisation by the home secretary at the state or central level,” Mr Chima said. But he was quick to add that technology has advanced rapidly, and called for new regulations to match the same. “In 1996-97, there were only public telephone companies, but now there are private companies. While under Rule 419 and the IT Act, private companies also come under the same regulations, illegal tapping is still rampant,” he said.

Previously too, allegations had been made that telcos had used phone tapping to build their nexus. “When these allegations started surfacing, the government allegedly claimed that it would place its own equipment with the telcos systems to monitor their work and prevent such illegal tapping. But whether these are placed and how they are monitored is unclear,” Mr Chima said.

He added that after the Radia tapes case, the government recognised the problem and had spoken about introducing a Right to Privacy Bill. “It had also said they would put more checks on tapping. In 2012, there was the first draft of the privacy bill but since there have been nearly seven to 11 drafts but none have been even put for public consultation not passed,” he said.

Speaking about legal tapping, M.N. Singh, former Mumbai police commissioner, said, “No phone can be tapped without the permission from the competent authority, which in the case of police forces in the commissioner. If it is needed for beyond three months, the proposal is put forward to a review committee,” he explained. The high-level review committee involves is headed either by the home secretary or the chief secretary and other intelligence agencies also sit in.

But other officers say, despite these practices, illegal tapping is rampant. A former CBI officer says that the legal framework is rarely ever followed. “While the commissioner is supposed to sanction such requests, generally the duty is allocated to DCPs and ACPs. The stamp of approval is obtained in bunches without even the officers checking whether the person whose phone needs to be tapped is in anyway crucial to the case,” he said.

Mr Chima says that the system needs an overhaul. “While other countries are waking up to privacy concerns and curbing surveillance, we are currently debating whether Right to Privacy is a fundamental right of citizens.” he said.