Centre for Internet and Society

The Surveillance Industry in India

maria — 2015-03-14T03:20:42Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/surveillance-industry-india.pdf

Policy Recommendations for Surveillance Law in India and an Analysis of Legal Provisions on Surveillance in India and the Necessary & Proportionate Principles

maria — 2015-03-14T03:08:04Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/policy-recommendations-for-surveillance-law-in-india-and-analysis-of-legal-provisions-on-surveillance-in-india-and-the-necessary-and-proportionate-principles.pdf

Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties (MLATs) and Cross Border Sharing of Information in India

maria — 2015-03-14T02:45:24Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/mlats-and-cross-border-sharing-of-information-in-india.pdf

Security, Surveillance and Data Sharing Schemes and Bodies in India

maria — 2015-03-14T02:35:31Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/security-surveillance-and-data-sharing.pdf

Right to Information (RTI) Requests to BSNL and MTNL Regarding Security Equipment

maria — 2015-02-25T15:04:56Z

As part of research, on July 2, 2013, the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) had sent Right to Information (RTI) requests to two of the largest internet service providers (ISPs) in India: Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) requesting answers to some questions.

Answers to the following questions were requested:

Please list the companies from which MTNL/BSNL has bought all its security equipment.
What type of security equipment does MTNL/BSNL use to assist Indian law enforcement agencies in detecting and preventing crime, terrorism and all other illegal activity? Please provide the certification for all such equipment.
What malware does MTNL/BSNL test for? What does MTNL/BSNL use for testing malware in its networks?
Which proxy server does MTNL/BSNL use and is it used for filtering data? If so, what type of data is being filtered and for what purpose? Is authorisation required and if so, by whom?
Does MTNL/BSNL use FinFly ISP? If so, who authorises its use and under what conditions?

M. K. Sheda, the appellate authority of MTNL, responded to the above questions on August 3, 2013 with the following answers:

MTNL procures all its equipment through an open competitive bidding process and the details of all past tenders are available on the MTNL website. Equipment from multiple vendors are operational in GSM MTNL Packet-Core Network and specific names cannot be given due to security reasons.
MTNL uses the security equipment by the Department of Telecommunications, Government of India, to assist Indian law enforcement agencies. The details cannot be disclosed as the information is classified as "secret" as per MTNL IT Policy Revision 2.0 and also comes under Section -8 (1) (a) and (d) of the RTI Act 2005.
MTNL GSM Packet Core equipment for data access uses MTNL ISP as its interface with external entities. Thus information is pertaining to MTNL ISP and hence a reply may please be taken from the GM (Broadband) unit.
Same answer as "3" above.
Same answer as "3" above.

BSNL has still not responded to the above questions.

Click below to download the respective files:

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/rti-requests-to-bsnl-mtnl-regarding-security-equipment

Spreadsheet data on sample of 50 security companies

maria — 2014-02-28T16:13:39Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/data-on-surveillance-technology-companies

Big Democracy, Big Surveillance: India's Surveillance State

maria — 2014-02-28T10:35:09Z

In India, surveillance is on the rise by the state to tackle crime and terrorism, and private companies are eager to meet the demand.

This article by Maria Xynou was published by OpenDemocracy on 10 February 2014.

Worried about the secret, mass surveillance schemes being carried out by the NSA? While we should be, some of the surveillance schemes in the world's largest democracy, India, are arguably in the same league.

Surveillance is being globalised to the extent that even India, a country with huge poverty issues, is investing millions of dollars in creating an expansive surveillance regime. However, why would communications monitoring interest Indian authorities, when the majority of the population lives below the line of poverty and only 17% of the population has access to the Internet?

The official political motivation behind surveillance in India appears to be the government's determination to tackle terrorism in the country. The 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks were arguably a similar landmark to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US, and both governments officially announced their intention to carry out surveillance as a counter-terrorism measure. However, unlike in the west, terrorist attacks in India are much more common, and the National Security Adviser reported in 2008 that 800 terrorist cells were operational in the country. With India’s history of major terror attacks in India over the last 25 years, it's easy for one to be persuaded that terrorism is actually a major threat to national security.

India's surveillance schemes

India’s surveillance programs mostly started following the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. That was when the Ministry of Home Affairs first proposed the creation of a National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID), which will give 11 intelligence and investigative agencies real-time access to 21 citizen data sources to track terror activities. These citizen data sources will be provided by various ministries and departments, otherwise called “provider agencies”, and will include bank account details, telephone records, passport data and vehicle registration details, among other types of data.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has sought over Rs. 3,400 crore (around USD 540 million!) for the implementation of NATGRID, which aims to create comprehensive patterns of intelligence by collecting sensitive information from databases of departments like the police, banks, tax and telecoms to supposedly track any terror suspect and incident.

But NATGRID is far from India's only data sharing scheme. In 2009 the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the creation and implementation of the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS), which would facilitate the sharing of databases among 14,000 police stations across all 35 states and Union Territories of India, excluding 6,000 police offices which are high in the police hierarchy. Rs. 2,000 crore (around USD 320 million) have been allocated for the CCTNS, which is being implemented by the National Crime Records Bureau under the national e-governance scheme. The CCTNS not only increases transparency by automating the function of police stations, but also provides the civil police with tools, technology and information to facilitate the investigation of crime and detection of criminals.

But apparently, sharing data and linking databases is not enough to track criminals and terrorists. As such, in the aftermath of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, the Indian government also implemented various interception systems. In September 2013 it was reported that the Indian government has been operating Lawful Intercept & Monitoring (LIM) systems, widely in secret. In particular, mobile operators in India have deployed their own LIM systems allowing for the so-called “lawful interception” of calls by the government. And possibly to enable this, mobile operators are required to provide subscriber verification to the Telecom Enforcement, Resource and Monitoring (TERM) cells of the Department of Telecommunications.

In the case of Internet traffic, the LIM systems are deployed at the international gateways of large Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and expand to a broad search across all Internet traffic using “keywords” and “key-phrases”. In other words, security agencies using LIM systems are capable of launching a search for suspicious words, resulting in the indiscriminate monitoring of all Internet traffic, possibly without court oversight and without the knowledge of ISPs.

India has also automated and centralized the interception of communications through the Central Monitoring System (CMS). This project was initially envisioned in 2009, following the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and was approved in 2011. The CMS intercepts all telecommunications in India and centrally stores the data in national and regional databases. The CMS will be connected with the Telephone Call Interception System (TCIS) which will help monitor voice calls, SMS and MMS, fax communications on landlines, CDMA, video calls, GSM and 3G networks. Agencies which will have access to the CMS include the Intelligence Bureau (IB), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Unlike mainstream interception, where service providers are required to intercept communications and provision interception requests to law enforcement agencies, the Central Monitoring System will automate the entire process of interception. This means that the CMS authority will have centralized access to all intercepted data and that the authority can also bypass service providers in gaining such access. Once security agencies have access to this data, they are equipped with Direct Electronic Provisioning, filters and alerts on the target numbers, as well as with Call Details Records (CDR) analysis and data mining tools to identify the personal information of target numbers.

Given that roughly 73% of India's population uses mobile phones, this means that the Central Monitoring System can potentially affect about 893 million people, more than double the population of the United States! However, how is it even possible for Indian authorities to mine the data of literally millions of people? Who supplies Indian authorities with the technology to do this and what type of technology is actually being used?

India's surveillance industry

India has the world's second largest population, consisting of more than a billion people and an expanding middle class. Undoubtedly, India is a big market and many international companies aspire in investing in the country. Unfortunately though, along with everything else being imported into India, surveillance technologies are no exception.

Some of the biggest and most notorious surveillance technology companies in the world, such as ZTE, Utimaco and Verint, have offices in India. Even FinFisher command and control servers have been found in India. However, in addition to allowing foreign surveillance technology companies to create offices and to sell their products and solutions in the country, local companies selling controversial spyware appear to be on the rise too.

Kommlabs Dezign is an Indian company which loves to show off its Internet monitoring solutions at various ISS trade shows, otherwise known as “the Wiretapper's Ball”. In particular, Kommlabs Dezign sells VerbaNET, an Internet Interception Solution, as well as VerbaCENTRE, which is a Unified Monitoring Centre that can even detect cognitive and emotional stress in voice calls and flag them! In other words, Kommlabs Dezign makes a point that not only should we worry about what we text and say over our phones, but that we should also worry about what we sound like when on the phone.

Vehere is another Indian company which sells various surveillance solutions and notably sells vCRIMES, which is a Call Details Records (CDR) analysis system. VCRIMES is used to analyse and gather intelligence and to unveil hidden interconnections and relations through communications. This system also includes a tool for detecting sleeper cells through advanced statistical analysis and can analyse more than 40 billion records in less than 3 seconds.

Paladion Networks is headquartered in Bangalore, India and sells various Internet Monitoring Systems, Telecom Operator Interception Systems, SSL Interception and Decryption Systems and Cyber Cafe Monitoring Systems to law enforcement agencies in India and abroad. In fact, Paladion Networks even states in its website that its customers include India's Ministry of Information Technology and the U.S Department of Justice.

ClearTrail Technologies is yet another Indian company which not only sponsors global surveillance trade shows but also sells a wide range of monitoring solutions to law enforcement agencies in India and abroad. ComTrail is a solution for the centralised mass interception and monitoring of voice and data networks, including Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, BlackBerry, ICQ and GSM voice calls. Furthermore, ComTrail is equipped to handle millions of communications per day, correlating identities across multiple networks, and can instantly analyse data across thousands of terabytes.

ClearTrail also sells xTrail, which is a solution for the targeted interception, decoding and analysis of data traffic over IP networks and which enables law enforcement agencies to intercept and monitor targeted communications without degrading the service quality of the IP network. Interestingly, xTrail can filter based on a “pure keyword”, a URL/Domain with a keyword, a mobile number or even with just a user identity, such as an email ID, chat ID or VoIP ID.

Apparently, some the biggest challenges that law enforcement agencies face when monitoring communications include cases when targets operate from public Internet networks and/or use encryption. However, it turns out that ClearTrail's QuickTrail solution is designed to gather intelligence from public Internet networks, when a target is operating from a cyber cafe, a hotel, a university campus or a free Wi-Fi zone. This device can remotely deploy spyware into a target's computer and supports protocol decoding, including HTTP, SMTP, POP3 and HTTPS.

Additionally, QuickTrail can identify a target machine on the basis of metadata, such as an IP address, and can monitor Ethernet LANs in real time, as well as monitor Gmail, Yahoo and all other HTTPS-based communications. ClearTrail's mTrail is designed for the passive 'off-the-air' interception of GSM communications, including the interception of targeted calls from pre-defined suspect lists and the monitoring of SMS and protocol information. MTrail also identifies a target's location by using signal strength, target numbers, such as IMSI, TIMSI, IMEI or MSI SDN, which makes it possible to listen to the conversation of so-called “lawfully intercepted” calls in near real-time.

In short, it looks like India is reaching the top league when it comes to surveillance technologies, especially since many of its companies and their products appear to be just as scary as some of the most sophisticated spying gear sold by the West. India may be the world's largest (by population) democracy, but that means that it has a huge population with way too many opinions...and apparently, the private and public sectors in India appear to be joining forces to do something about it.

So do Indians have nothing to hide?

A very popular rhetoric in both India and the west is that citizens should not be concerned about surveillance because, after all, if they are not terrorists, they should have nothing to hide. However, privacy advocate Caspar Bowden has rightfully stated that this rhetoric is fundamentally flawed and that we should all indeed “have something to hide”. But is privacy just about “having something to hide”? Jacob Appelbaum has stated that this rhetoric is merely a psychological copying mechanism when dealing with security.

It's probably rather comforting and reassuring to think that we are not special or important enough for surveillance to affect us personally. But is that really up to us to decide? Unfortunately not. The very point of data mining is to match patterns, create profiles of individuals and to unveil hidden interconnections and relations. A data analyst can uncover more information about us than what we are even aware of and it is they who decide if our data is “incriminating” or not. Or even worse: in many cases it's up to data mining software to decide how “special” or “important” we are. And unfortunately, technology is not infallible.

The world's largest democracy, which is also one of the most corrupt countries in the world, is implementing many controversial surveillance schemes which lack transparency, accountability and adequate legal backing, and which are largely being carried out in secret. And to make matters worse, India lacks privacy legislation. Over a billion people in a democratic regime are exposed to inadequately regulated surveillance schemes, while a local surveillance industry is thriving without any checks or balances whatsoever. What will this mean for the global future of democracy?

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/big-democracy-big-surveillance-indias-surveillance-state

India's Central Monitoring System (CMS): Something to Worry About?

maria — 2014-02-22T13:50:37Z

In this article, Maria Xynou presents new information about India's controversial Central Monitoring System (CMS) based on official documents which were shared with the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS). Read this article and gain an insight on how the CMS actually works!

The idea of a Panoptikon, of monitoring all communications in India and centrally storing such data is not new. It was first envisioned in 2009, following the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. As such, the Central Monitoring System (CMS) started off as a project run by the Centre for Communication Security Research and Monitoring (CCSRM), along with the Telecom Testing and Security Certification (TTSC) project.

The Central Monitoring System (CMS), which was largely covered by the media in 2013, was actually approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on 16th June 2011 and the pilot project was completed by 30th September 2011. Ever since, the CMS has been operated by India's Telecom Enforcement Resource and Monitoring (TERM) cells, and has been implemented by the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), which is an Indian Government owned telecommunications technology development centre. The CMS has been implemented in three phases, each one taking about 13-14 months. As of June 2013, government funding of the CMS has reached at least Rs. 450 crore (around $72 million).

In order to require Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) to intercept all telecommunications in India as part of the CMS, clause 41.10 of the Unified Access Services (UAS) License Agreement was amended in June 2013. In particular, the amended clause includes the following:

“But, in case of Centralized Monitoring System (CMS), Licensee shall provide the connectivity upto the nearest point of presence of MPLS (Multi Protocol Label Switching) network of the CMS at its own cost in the form of dark fibre with redundancy. If dark fibre connectivity is not readily available, the connectivity may be extended in the form of 10 Mbps bandwidth upgradeable upto 45 Mbps or higher as conveyed by the Governemnt, till such time the dark fibre connectivity is established. However, LICENSEE shall endeavor to establish connectivity by dark optical fibre at the earilest. From the point of presence of MPLS network of CMS onwards traffic will be handled by the Government at its own cost.”

Furthermore, draft Rule 419B under Section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, allows for the disclosure of “message related information” / Call Data Records (CDR) to Indian authorities. Call Data Records, otherwise known as Call Detail Records, contain metadata (data about data) that describe a telecomunication transaction, but not the content of that transaction. In other words, Call Data Records include data such as the phone numbers of the calling and called parties, the duration of the call, the time and date of the call, and other such information, while excluding the content of what was said during such calls. According to draft Rule 419B, directions for the disclosure of Call Data Records can only be issued on a national level through orders by the Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Home Affairs, while on the state level, orders can only be issued by the Secretary to the State Government in charge of the Home Department.

Other than this draft Rule and the amendment to clause 41.10 of the UAS License Agreement, no law exists which mandates or regulates the Central Monitoring System (CMS). This mass surveillance system is merely regulated under Section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, which empowers the Indian Government to intercept communications on the occurence of any “public emergency” or in the interest of “public safety”, when it is deemed “necessary or expedient” to do so in the following instances:

the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India
the security of the State
friendly relations with foreign states
public order
for preventing incitement to the commission of an offense

However, Section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, appears to be rather broad and vague, and fails to explicitly regulate the details of how the Central Monitoring System (CMS) should function. As such, the CMS appears to be inadequately regulated, which raises many questions with regards to its potential misuse and subsequent violation of Indian's right to privacy and other human rights.

So how does the Central Monitoring System (CMS) actually work?

We have known for quite a while now that the Central Monitoring System (CMS) gives India's security agencies and income tax officials centralized access to the country's telecommunications network. The question, though, is how.

Well, prior to the CMS, all service providers in India were required to have Lawful Interception Systems installed at their premises in order to carry out targeted surveillance of individuals by monitoring communications running through their networks. Now, in the CMS era, all TSPs in India are required to integrate Interception Store & Forward (ISF) servers with their pre-existing Lawful Interception Systems. Once ISF servers are installed in the premises of TSPs in India and integrated with Lawful Interception Systems, they are then connected to the Regional Monitoring Centres (RMC) of the CMS. Each Regional Monitoring Centre (RMC) in India is connected to the Central Monitoring System (CMS). In short, the CMS involves the collection and storage of data intercepted by TSPs in central and regional databases.

In other words, all data intercepted by TSPs is automatically transmitted to Regional Monitoring Centres, and subsequently automatically transmitted to the Central Monitoring System. This means that not only can the CMS authority have centralized access to all data intercepted by TSPs all over India, but that the authority can also bypass service providers in gaining such access. This is due to the fact that, unlike in the case of so-called “lawful interception” where the nodal officers of TSPs are notified about interception requests, the CMS allows for data to be automatically transmitted to its datacentre, without the involvement of TSPs.

The above is illustrated in the following chart:

The interface testing of TSPs and their Lawful Interception Systems has already been completed and, as of June 2013, 70 ISF servers have been purchased for six License Service Areas and are being integrated with the Lawful Interception Systems of TSPs. The Centre for Development of Telematics has already fully installed and integrated two ISF servers in the premises of two of India's largest service providers: MTNL and Tata Communications Limited. In Delhi, ISF servers which connect with the CMS have been installed for all TSPs and testing has been completed. In Haryana, three ISF servers have already been installed in the premises of TSPs and the rest of currently being installed. In Chennai, five ISF servers have been installed so far, while in Karnataka, ISF servers are currently being integrated with the Lawful Interception Systems of the TSPs in the region.

The Centre for Development of Telematics plans to integrate ISF servers which connect with the CMS in the premises of service providers in the following regions:

Delhi
Maharashtra
Kolkata
Uttar Pradesh (West)
Andhra Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (East)
Kerala
Gujarat
Madhya Pradesh
Punjab
Haryana

With regards to the UAS License Agreement that TSPs are required to comply with, amended clause 41.10 specifies certain details about how the CMS functions. In particular, the amended clause mandates that TSPs in India will provide connectivity upto the nearest point of presence of MPLS (Multi Protocol Label Switching) network of the CMS at their own cost and in the form of dark optical fibre. From the MPLS network of the CMS onwards, traffic will be handled by the Government at its own cost. It is noteworthy that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for MPLS connectivity has been signed with one of India's largest ISPs/TSPs: BSNL. In fact, Rs. 4.8 crore have been given to BSNL for interconnecting 81 CMS locations of the following License Service Areas:

Delhi
Mumbai
Haryana
Rajasthan
Kolkata
Karnataka
Chennai
Punjab

Clause 41.10 of the UAS License Agreement also mandates that the hardware and software required for monitoring calls will be engineered, provided, installed and maintained by the TSPs at their own cost. This implies that TSP customers in India will likely have to pay for more expensive services, supposedly to “increase their safety”. Moreover, this clause mandates that TSPs are required to monitor at least 30 simultaneous calls for each of the nine designated law enforcement agencies. In addition to monitored calls, clause 41.10 of the UAS License Agreement also requires service providers to make the following records available to Indian law enforcement agencies:

Called/calling party mobile/PSTN numbers
Time/date and duration of interception
Location of target subscribers (Cell ID & GPS)
Data records for failed call attempts
CDR (Call Data Records) of Roaming Subscriber
Forwarded telephone numbers by target subscriber

Interception requests from law enforcement agencies are provisioned by the CMS authority, which has access to the intercepted data by all TSPs in India and which is stored in a central database. As of June 2013, 80% of the CMS Physical Data Centre has been built so far.

In short, the CMS replaces the existing manual system of interception and monitoring to an automated system, which is operated by TERM cells and implemented by the Centre for Development of Telematics. Training has been imparted to the following law enforcement agencies:

Intelligence Bureau (IB)
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI)
Research & Analysis Wing (RAW)
National Investigation Agency (NIA)
Delhi Police

And should we even be worried about the Central Monitoring System?

Well, according to the brief material for the Honourable MOC and IT Press Briefing on 16th July 2013, we should not be worried about the Central Monitoring System. Over the last year, media reports have expressed fear that the Central Monitoring System will infringe upon citizen's right to privacy and other human rights. However, Indian authorities have argued that the Central Monitoring System will better protect the privacy of individuals and maintain their security due to the following reasons:

The CMS will just automate the existing process of interception and monitoring, and all the existing safeguards will continue to exist
The interception and monitoring of communications will continue to be in accordance with Section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, read with Rule 419A
The CMS will enhance the privacy of citizens, because it will no longer be necessary to take authorisation from the nodal officer of the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) – who comes to know whose and which phone is being intercepted
The CMS authority will provision the interception requests from law enforcement agencies and hence, a complete check and balance will be ensured, since the provisioning entity and the requesting entity will be different and the CMS authority will not have access to content data
A non-erasable command log of all provisioning activities will be maintained by the system, which can be examined anytime for misuse and which provides an additional safeguard

While some of these arguments may potentially allow for better protections, I personally fundamentally disagree with the notion that a centralised monitoring system is something not to worry about. But let's start-off by having a look at the above arguments.

The first argument appears to imply that the pre-existing process of interception and monitoring was privacy-friendly or at least “a good thing” and that existing safeguards are adequate. As such, it is emphasised that the process of interception and monitoring will “just” be automated, while posing no real threat. I fundamentally disagree with this argument due to several reasons. First of all, the pre-existing regime of interception and monitoring appears to be rather problematic because India lacks privacy legislation which could safeguard citizens from potential abuse. Secondly, the very interception which is enabled through various sections of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008, and the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, potentially infringe upon individual's right to privacy and other human rights.

May I remind you of Section 69 of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008, which allows for the interception of all information transmitted through a computer resource and which requires users to assist authorities with the decryption of their data, if they are asked to do so, or face a jail sentence of up to seven years. The debate on the constitutionality of the various sections of the law which allow for the interception of communications in India is still unsettled, which means that the pre-existing interception and monitoring of communications remains an ambiguous matter. And so, while the interception of communications in general is rather concerning due to dracodian sections of the law and due to the absence of privacy legislation, automating the process of interception does not appear reassuring at all. On the contrary, it seems like something in the lines of: “We have already been spying on you. Now we will just be doing it quicker and more efficiently.”

The second argument appears inadequate too. Section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, states that the interception of communications can be carried out on the occurence of a “public emergency” or in the interest of “public safety” when it is deemed “necessary or expedient” to do so under certain conditions which were previously mentioned. However, this section of the law does not mandate the establishment of the Central Monitoring System, nor does it regulate how and under what conditions this surveillance system will function. On the contrary, Section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, clearly mandates targeted surveillance, while the Central Monitoring System could potentially undertake mass surveillance. Since the process of interception is automated and, under clause 41.16 of the Unified License (Access Services) Agreement, service providers are required to provision at least 3,000 calls for monitoring to nine law enforcement agencies, it is likely that the CMS undertakes mass surveillance. Thus, it is unclear if the very nature of the CMS falls under Section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, which mandates targeted surveillance, nor is it clear that such surveillance is being carried out on the occurence of a specific “public emergency” or in the interest of “public safety”. As such, the vagueness revolving around the question of whether the CMS undertakes targeted or mass surveillance means that its legality remains an equivocal matter.

As for the third argument, it is not clear how bypassing the nodal officers of TSPs will enhance citizen's right to privacy. While it may potentially be a good thing that nodal officers will not always be aware of whose information is being intercepted, that does not guarantee that those who do have access to such data will not abuse it. After all, the CMS appears to be largely unregulated and India lacks privacy legislation and all other adequate legal safeguards. Moreover, by bypassing the nodal officers of TSPs, the opportunity for unauthorised requests to be rejected will seize to exist. It also implies an increased centralisation of intercepted data which can potentially create a centralised point for cyber attacks. Thus, the argument that the CMS authority will monopolise the control over intercepted data does not appear reassuring at all. After all, who will watch the watchmen?

While the fourth argument makes a point about differentiating the provisioning and requesting entities with regards to interception requests, it does not necessarily ensure a complete check and balance, nor does it completely eliminate the potential for abuse. The CMS lacks adequate legal backing, as well as a framework which would ensure that unauthorised requests are not provisioned. Thus, the recommended chain of custody of issuing interception requests does not necessarily guarantee privacy protections, especially since a legal mechanism for ensuring checks and balances is not in place.

Furthermore, this argument states that the CMS authority will not have access to content data, but does not specify if it will have access to metadata. What's concerning is that metadata can potentially be more useful for tracking individuals than content data, since it is ideally suited to automated analysis by a computer and, unlike content data which shows what an individuals says (which may or may not be true), metadata shows what an individual does. As such, metadata can potentially be more “harmful” than content data, since it can potentially provide concrete patterns of an individual's interests, behaviour and interactions. Thus, the fact that the CMS authority might potentially have access to metadata appears to tackle the argument that the provisioning and requesting entities will be seperate and therefore protect individual's privacy.

The final argument appears to provide some promise, since the maintenance of a command log of all provisioning activities could potentially ensure some transparency. However, it remains unclear who will maintain such a log, who will have access to it, who will be responsible for ensuring that unlawful requests have not been provisioned and what penalties will be enforced in cases of breaches. Without an independent body to oversee the process and without laws which predefine strict penalties for instances of misuse, maintaining a command log does not necessarily safeguard anything at all. In short, the above arguments in favour of the CMS and which support the notion that it enhances individual's right to privacy appear to be inadequate, to say the least.

In contemporary democracies, most people would agree that freedom is a fundamental human right. The right to privacy should be equally fundamental, since it protects individuals from abuse by those in power and is integral in ensuring individual liberty. India may literally be the largest democracy in the world, but it lacks privacy legislation which establishes the right to privacy, which guarantees data protection and which safeguards individuals from the potentially unlawful interception of their communications. And as if that is not enough, India is also carrying out a surveillance scheme which is largely unregulated. As such, it is highly recommended that India establishes a privacy law now.

If we do the math, here is what we have: a country with extremely high levels of corruption, no privacy law and an unregulated surveillance scheme which lacks public and parliamentary debate prior to its implementation. All of this makes it almost impossible to believe that we are talking about a democracy, let alone the world's largest (by population) democracy! Therefore, if Indian authorities are interested in preserving the democratic regime they claim to be a part of, I think it would be highly necessary to halt the Central Monitoring System and to engage the public and the parliament in a debate about it.

After all, along with our right to privacy, freedom of expression and other human rights...our right to freedom from suspicion appears to be at stake.

How can we not be worried about the Central Monitoring System?

The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) is in possession of the documents which include the information on the Central Monitoring System (CMS) as analysed in this article, as well as of the draft Rule 419B under the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/india-central-monitoring-system-something-to-worry-about

UAS License Agreement Amendment regarding the Central Monitoring System (CMS)

maria — 2014-01-30T12:43:56Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/uas-license-agreement-amendment

New Document on India's Central Monitoring System (CMS) - 2

maria — 2014-01-30T12:40:31Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/new-cms-doc-2

Interview with Mathew Thomas from the Say No to UID campaign - UID Court Cases

maria — 2014-01-27T12:47:49Z

The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) recently interviewed Mathew Thomas from the Say No to UID campaign about his ongoing efforts to challenge the UID scheme legally in the Bangalore High Court and Supreme Court of India. Read this interview and gain an interesting insight on recent legal developments with regards to the UID!

Hi Mathew! We've heard that you've been in court a lot over the last few years with regards to the UID scheme. Could you please tell us about the UID case you have filed?

In early 2012, I filed a civil suit at the Bangalore Court to declare the UID scheme illegal and to stop further biometric enrollments. I alleged that foreign agencies are involved in the process of biometric enrollment, and that cases of corruption have occurred with regards to the companies contracted by the UID Authority of India (UIDAI). Many dubious companies have been empanelled for biometric enrollments by the UIDAI and many cases of corruption have been noted, especially with regards to the preparation of biometric databases for below poverty line (BPL) ration cards in Karnataka.

In 2010, according to a government audit report, COMAT Technologies Private Limited had a contract with the Karnataka Government and was required to undertake a door-to-door survey and to set up biometric devices. COMAT Technologies Private Limited was paid ₹ 542.3 million for this purpose, but it turns out that the company did not comply with the terms of the contract and did not fullfill its obligations under the contract. Even though COMAT Technologies Private Limited had been contracted and had been paid ₹ 542.3 million, the company did not hand over any biometric device to the Karnataka Government. Instead, when the company got questioned, it walked away from the contract in 2010, even though it had been paid for a service it did not deliver.

In the same year, 2010, COMAT Technologies was empanelled as an Enrolling Agency of the UIDAI. COMAT Technologies also carries out enrollments in Mysore and a TV channel sting operation revealed that fake IDs were being issued in the Mysore enrollment center. After much persuasion, the e-Government department of Karnataka informed me that they have filed an FIR. And this is just one case of a corrupt company empanelled as an enrollement agency with the UIDAI. Many similar cases with other companies have occurred in other cities in India, such as Mumbai, where the empanelled agencies have committed fraud and police complaints have been filed. But unfortunately, there is no publicly available information on the state of the investigations.

As such, I filed a case at the Bangalore Court and stated that the whole UID system is insecure, that it will not achieve the objective of preventing leakages of welfare subsidies and that, therefore, it is a waste of public funds, which also affects individuals' right to privacy and right to life. In my complaint in the civil court I made allegations of corruption and dangers to national security backed by documentary evidence. According to Order 8 of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC), defendants are required to specifically deny each of the allegations against them and if they don't, the court is required to accept the allegations as accurate. According to law, vague, bald denials are not acceptable in courts. Interestingly enough, the defendants in this court case did not deny any of the allegations, but instead stated that they (allegations) are “trivial” and requested the judge to dismiss the case without a trial. The judge requested the defendants to file a written application, asking for the suit to be dismissed under Order 7, Rule 11, of the Civil Procedure Code. Nonetheless, in May 2012, the judge observed that this is a serious case which should not be dismissed and that he would like to have a daily hearing of the case, especially since the case was grounded on the allegation that thousands of crores of rupees of public money are spent every day.

However, one month later in June 2012, the judge dismissed the case by stating that I did not have a “cause of action” and that the case is not of civil nature under Section 9 of the Code of Civil Procedure. I argued that tax payers have a right to know where their money is going and that we all have a right to privacy and that therefore, I did have a cause for action. I quoted the Supreme Court case setting out the law relating to the meaning of “civil nature”. The Apex court said, “Anything which is not of criminal nature is of civil nature”. I also quoted several court precedents which explained conditions under which complaints could be dismissed under Order VII Rule 11. Unfortunately though, the judge dismissed all of this and suggested that I should take this case to the High Court or to the Supreme Court, since the Bangalore Court did not have the authority to address the violation of fundamental human rights. In my opinion, the fallacy in this judgement was that, on the one hand, the judge stated in his order that there was “no cause for action”, but on the other hand, he said that I should take the case to the High Court or to the Supreme Court! And on top of that, the judge stated that my case was frivolous and levied on me a Rs. 25, 000 fine, because apparently I was “wasting the court's time” !

In addition to all of this, the judge made a very intriguing statement in his order: he claimed that the biometric enrollment with the UIDAI is voluntary and that therefore I need not enrol. I argued that although the UID is voluntary in theory, it is actually mandatory on many levels, especially since access to many governmental services require enrollment with the UIDAI. Nonetheless, the judge insisted that the UID is purely voluntary and that if I am not happy with the UID, then I should just “stay at home”.

And how did the case continue thereafter?

In October 2012 I appealed against this to the High Court by stating that there was a misapplication of Order 7, Rule 11, of the Civil Procedure Code and requested the High Court to send the suit back for trial at the Bangalore Court.

Now, when you appeal in India, the Court has to issue notices to the opposite party, which are usually sent by registered post. However, nothing was happening, so I filed a number of applications to hear the case. The registrar’s office filed a number of trivial “objections” with which I needed to comply and this took three months, until January 2013. For example, one “objection” was that the lower court order stated the date of the order as "03-07-12", whereas I had mentioned the date as 3 July 2012. Then they would argue that the acknowledgement of the receipt of the notice from the respondents was not received. The High Court is located next to the head post office (GPO) in Bangalore and normally it would be sent there, then directly to the GPO in Delhi and from there to the Planning Commission or to the UIDAI. Yet, the procedure was delayed because apparently the notices weren't sent. In one hearing, the court clerk said that the address of the defendant was wrong and that the address of the Planning Commission should also be included. All in all, it seemed to me like there was some deliberate attempt to delay the procedure and the dismissal of the case by the Bangalore Court seemed very questionable. As a result, in January 2013, I asked the High Court to permit me to personally hand over my appeal to the Government Council. And finally, on 17th December 2013, my appeal was heard by the Bangalore High Court!

Over the last three months, the defendants have not filed any counter affidavit. Instead, the Government Council came to the High Court and stated that I have not filed a “paper book” (which includes depositions and evidence, among other things). However, the judge stated that this is not a case which requires a “paper book”, since my appeal was about the misapplication of Order 7, Rule 11, of the Civil Procedure Code. Then the Government Council asked for more time to review the appeal and it is has been postponed.

Have there been any other recent court cases against the UID?

Yes. While all of this was going on, retired judge, Justice Puttaswamy, filed a petition in the Supreme Court, stating that the UID scheme is illegal, since it violates article 73 of the Constitution. Aruna Roy, who is an activist at the National Council for People’s Right to Information, has also filed a petition where she has questioned the UID because it violates privacy rights and the rights of the poor.

Furthermore, petitions have been filed in the Madras High Court and in the Mumbai High Court. In 2012, it was argued in the Madras High Court that the only legal provision for taking fingerprints exists under the Prisoners Act, whereas the UIDAI is taking the fingerprints of people who are not prisoners and therefore it is illegal. In 2013, Vikram Crishna, Kamayani Bahl and a few others argued in the Mumbai High Court that the right to privacy is being violated through the UID scheme. It is noteworthy that in most of these cases, the defendants have not filed any counter-arguments. The only exceptions were in the Aruna Roy and Puttaswamy cases, where the defendants claimed that the UID is secure and supported it in general. In the end, the Supreme Court directed that the cases in Mumbai and Madras should be clubbed together and addressed by it. As such, the cases filed in the Madras and Mumbai High Courts have been sent to the Supreme Court of India.

Major General Vombathakere also filed a petition in the Supreme Court, arguing that the UID scheme violates individuals' right to privacy. When the counsel for the General commenced his arguments the judge pointed to the possibility of the Government passing the NIA Bill soon, which will contain provisions for privacy, as stated by the Government. As such, the judge implied that if the Government passes such a law the argument, that the Government is implementing the scheme in a legal vacuum, may not be valid.

So what is the status of your pending court cases?

Well, I impleaded myself in Aruna Roy's petition and brought my arguments with regards to corruption in the case of companies contracted with the UIDAI and the danger to national security through the involvement of persons linked to US intelligence agencies. The last hearing in the Supreme Court was on 10th December 2013, but it was postponed to 28 January 2014. So in short, in the Supreme Court I am currently filing a case for investigation with regards to corruption and links with foreign intelligence agencies by companies contracted with the UIDAI, while in the Bangalore High Court, I have appealed a civil trial with regards to the misplacement of Order 7, Rule 11, of the Civil Procedure Code.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/interview-with-mathew-thomas-from-the-say-no-to-uid-campaign

Brochures.zip

maria — 2013-12-26T05:23:23Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/Brochures.zip

Brochures from Expos on Smart Cards, e-Security, RFID & Biometrics in India

maria — 2013-12-26T05:24:39Z

Electronics Today organised a series of expos on smart cards, e-security, RFID and biometric technology in Delhi on 16-18 October 2013. The Centre for Internet and Society is sharing the brochures it collected from these public expos for research purposes.

In Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, many companies from India and abroad gathered to exhibit their products at the following expos which were organised by Electronics Today (India's first electronic exhibition organiser) on 16-18 October 2013:

SmartCards Expo 2013
e-Security Expo 2013
RFID Expo 2013
Biometrics Expo 2013

The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) attended these exhibitions for research purposes and is sharing the publicly available brochures it gathered through the attached zip file. The use of these brochures constitutes Fair Use.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/brochures-from-expos-in-india-2013

Big Democracy: Big Surveillance - A talk by Maria Xynou

maria — 2013-12-12T10:23:21Z

Next Tuesday, Maria Xynou will be presenting her latest research on surveillance in India. Come and engage in a discussion on India's controversial surveillance schemes, surveillance industry and much much more!

And so we've heard a lot about the Edward Snowden leaks and about the NSA's controversial mass surveillance projects. But what's happening in India?

It turns out that the world's largest democracy has some of the most controversial surveillance schemes in the world! Some of India's laws, schemes, projects and technologies are unbeatable when it comes to mass surveillance, censorship and control. While India may be a developing country with issues ranging from poverty to corruption, it nonetheless appears to be at the forefront of surveillance on an international level.

Join us at the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) on 3rd December 2013 to hear about India's surveillance laws, schemes and technologies and to engage in a discussion on the potential implications. All that is required is an open mind, critical thought and a will to challenge that which has not been challenged!

We look forward to seeing you all and to hearing your thoughts, ideas and opinions!

VIDEO

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/big-democracy-big-surveillance-a-talk-by-maria-xynou

Why 'Facebook' is More Dangerous than the Government Spying on You

maria — 2013-11-23T08:38:30Z

In this article, Maria Xynou looks at state and corporate surveillance in India and analyzes why our "choice" to hand over our personal data can potentially be more harmful than traditional, top-down, state surveillance. Read this article and perhaps reconsider your "choice" to use social networking sites, such as Facebook.

Do you have a profile on Facebook? Almost every time I ask this question, the answer is ‘yes’. In fact, I think the amount of people who have replied ‘no’ to this question can literally be counted on my right hand. But this is not an article about Facebook per se. It’s more about the ‘Facebooks’ of the world, and of people’s increasing “choice” to hand over their most personal data. More accurate questions are probably:

“Would you like the Government to go through your personal diary? If not, then why do you have a profile on Facebook?”

The Indian Surveillance State

Following Snowden ’s revelations, there’s finally been more talk about surveillance. But what is surveillance?

David Lyon - who directs the Surveillance Studies Centre - defines surveillance as “any collection and processing of personal data, whether identifiable or not, for the purposes of influencing or managing those whose data have been garnered”. Surveillance can also be defined as the monitoring of the behaviour, activities or other changing information of individuals or groups of people. However, this definition implies that individuals and/or groups of people are being monitored in a top-down manner, without this being their “choice”. But is that actually the case? To answer this question, let’s have a look at how the Indian government and corporations operating in India spy on us.

State Surveillance

The first things that probably come to mind when thinking about India from a foreigner’s perspective are poverty and corruption. Surveillance appears to be a “Western, elitist issue”, which mainly concerns those who have already solved their main survival problems. In other words, the most mainstream argument I hear in India is that surveillance is not a real issue, especially since the majority of the population in the country lives below the line of poverty and does not even have any Internet access. Interestingly enough though, the other day when I was walking around a slum in Koramangala, I noticed that most people have Airtel satellites...even though they barely have any clean water!

The point though is that surveillance in India is a fact, and the state plays a rather large role in it. In particular, Indian law enforcement agencies follow three steps in ensuring that targeted and mass surveillance is carried out in the country:

1. They create surveillance schemes, such as the Central Monitoring System (CMS ), which carry out targeted and/or mass surveillance

2. They create laws, guidelines and license agreements, such as the Information Technology (Amendment ) Act 2008, which mandate targeted and mass surveillance and which require ISP and telecom operators to comply

3. They buy surveillance technologies from companies, such as CCTV cameras and spyware, and use them to carry out targeted and/or mass surveillance

While Indian law enforcement agencies don’t necessarily follow these steps in this precise order, they usually try to create surveillance schemes, legalise them and then buy the gear to carry them out.

In particular, surveillance in India is regulated under five laws: the Indian Telegraph Act 1885, the Indian Post Office Act 1898, the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act 1933, section 91 of the 1973 Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPc ) and the Information Technology (Amendment ) Act 2008. These laws mandate targeted surveillance, but remain silent on the issue of mass surveillance which means that technically it is neither allowed nor prohibited, but remains a grey legal area.

While surveillance laws in India may not mandate mass surveillance, some of their sections are particularly concerning. Section 69 of the Information Technology (Amendment ) Act 2008 allows for the interception of all information transmitted through a computer resource, while requiring that all users disclose their private encryption keys or face a jail sentence of up to seven years. This appears to be quite bizarre, as individuals can only keep their data private and protect themselves from surveillance through encryption.

Section 44 of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act 2008 imposes stiff penalties on anyone who fails to provide requested information to authorities - which kind of reminds us of Orwell’s totalitarian regime in “1984”. Furthermore, section 66A of the same law states that individuals will be punished for sending “offensive messages through communication services”. However, the vagueness of this section raises huge concerns, as it remains unclear what defines an “offensive message” and whether this will have grave implications on the freedom of expression. The arrest of two Indian women last November over a Facebook post reminds us of this.

Laws in India may not mandate mass surveillance, but guidelines and license agreements issued by the Department of Telecommunications do. In particular, the UAS License Agreement regarding the Central Monitoring System (CMS ) not only mandates mass surveillance, but also attempts to legalise a mass surveillance scheme which aims to intercept all telecommunications and Internet communications in India. Furthermore, the Department of Telecommunications has issued numerous guidelines and license agreements for ISPs and telecom operators, which require them to not only be “surveillance-friendly”, but to also enable law enforcement agencies to tap into their servers on the grounds of national security. And then, of course, there’s the new National Cyber Security Policy, which mandates surveillance to tackle cyber-crime, cyber-terrorism, cyber-war and cyber-vandalism.

As both a result and prerequisite of these laws, the Indian government has created various surveillance schemes and teams to aid them. In particular, India ’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT ) is currently monitoring “any suspicious move on the Internet” in order to checkmate any potential cyber attacks from hackers. While this may be useful for the purpose of preventing and detecting cyber-criminals, it remains unclear how “any suspicious move” is defined and whether that inevitably enables mass surveillance, without individuals’ knowledge or consent.

The Crime and Criminal Tracking and Network & Systems (CCTNS ) is the creation of a nationwide networking infrastructure for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of policing and sharing data among 14,000 police stations across the country. It has been estimated that Rs. 2000 crore has been allocated for the CCTNS project and while it may potentially increase the effectiveness of tackling crime and terrorism, it raises questions around the legality of data sharing and its potential implications on the right to privacy and other human rights - especially if such data sharing results in data being disclosed or shared with unauthorised third parties.

Similarly, the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID ) is an integrated intelligence grid that will link the databases of several departments and ministries of the Government of India so as to collect comprehensive patterns of intelligence that can be readily accessed by intelligence agencies. This was first proposed in the aftermath of the Mumbai 2008 terrorist attacks and while it may potentially aid intelligence agencies in countering crime and terrorism, enforced privacy legislation should be a prerequisite, which would safeguard our data from potential abuse.

However, the most controversial surveillance scheme being implemented in India is probably the Central Monitoring System (CMS). While several states, such as Assam, already have Internet Monitoring Systems in place, the Central Monitoring System appears to raise even graver concerns. In particular, the CMS is a system through which all telecommunications and Internet communications in India will be monitored by Indian authorities. In other words, the CMS will be capable of intercepting our calls and of analyzing our data on social networking sites, while all such data would be retained in a centralised database. Given that India currently lacks privacy legislation, such a system would mostly be unregulated and would pose major threats to our right to privacy and other human rights. Given that data would be centrally stored, the system would create a type of “honeypot” for centralised cyber attacks. Given that the centralised database would have massive volumes of data for literally a billion people, the probability of error in pattern and profile matching would be high - which could potentially result in innocent people being convicted for crimes they did not commit. Nonetheless, mass surveillance through the CMS is currently a reality in India.

And the even bigger question: How can law enforcement agencies mine the data of 1.2 billion people? How do they even carry out surveillance in practice? Well, that’s where surveillance technology companies come in. In fact, the surveillance industry in India is massively expanding - especially in light of its new surveillance schemes which require advanced and sophisticated technology. According to CIS ’ India Privacy Monitor Map - which is part of ongoing research - Indian law enforcement agencies use CCTV cameras in pretty much every single state in India. The map also shows that Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), otherwise known as drones, are being used in most states in India and the DRDO ’s “Netra ” - which is a lightweight drone, not much bigger than a bird - is particularly noteworthy.

But Indian law enforcement agencies also buy surveillance software and hardware which is aimed at intercepting telecommunications and Internet communications. In particular, ClearTrail Technologies is an Indian company - based in Indore - which equips law enforcement agencies in India and around the world with surveillance software which can probably be compared with the “notorious” FinFisher. So in short, there appears to be a tight collaboration between Indian law enforcement agencies and the surveillance industry, which can be clearly depicted in the ISS surveillance trade shows, otherwise known as “the wiretappers’ ball”.

Corporate Surveillance

When I ask people about corporate surveillance, the answer I usually get is: “Corporations only care about their profit - they don’t do surveillance per se”. And while that may be true, David Lyon ’s definition of surveillance - as “any collection and processing of personal data, whether identifiable or not, for the purposes of influencing or managing those whose data have been garnered” - may indicate otherwise.

Corporations, like Google, Amazon and Facebook, may not have an agenda for spying per se, but they do collect massive volumes of personal data and, in cases such as PRISM, allow law enforcement to tap into their servers. Once law enforcement agencies get hold of data collected by companies, such as Facebook, they then use data mining software - equipped by various surveillance technology companies - to process and mine the data. And how do companies, like Google and Facebook, make money off our personal data? By selling it to big buyers, such as law enforcement agencies.

So while Facebook and all the ‘Facebooks’ of the world may not profit from surveillance per se, they do profit from collecting our personal data and selling it to third parties, which include law enforcement agencies. And David Lyon argues that surveillance involves the collection of personal data - which corporations, like Facebook, do - for the purpose of influencing and managing individuals. While this last point can probably be widely debated on, it is clear that corporations share their collected data with third parties, which ultimately leads to the influence or managing of individuals - directly or indirectly. In other words, the collection of personal data, in combination with its disclosure to third parties, is surveillance. So when we think about companies, like Google or Facebook, we should not just think of businesses interested in their profit - but also of spying agencies. After all, “if the product is free , you are the product ”.

Now if we look at online corporations more closely, we can probably identify three categories:

1. Websites through which we buy products and hand over our personal details - e.g. Amazon

2. Websites through which we use services and hand over our personal details - e.g. flight ticket

3. Websites through which we communicate and hand over our personal details - e.g. Facebook

And why could the above be considered “spying” at all? Because such corporations collect massive volumes of personal data and subsequently:

- Disclose such data to law enforcement agencies

- Allow law enforcement agencies to tap into their servers

- Sell such data to “third parties”

What’s notable about so-called corporate surveillance is that, in all cases, there is a mutual, key element: we consent to the handing over of our personal information. We are not forced to hand over our personal data when buying a book online, booking a flight ticket or using Facebook. Instead, we “choose” to hand over our personal data in exchange for a product or service. Now what significantly differentiates state surveillance to corporate surveillance is the factor of “choice”. While we may choose to hand over our most personal details to large online corporations, such as Google and Facebook, we do not have a choice when the government monitors our communications, collects and stores our personal data.

State Surveillance vs. Corporate Surveillance

Both Indian law enforcement agencies and corporations collect massive volumes of personal data. In fact, it is probably noteworthy to mention that Facebook, in particular, collects 20 times more data per day than the NSA in total. In addition, Facebook has claimed that it has received more demands from the US government for information about its users than from all other countries combined. In this sense, the corporate collection of personal data can potentially be more harmful than government surveillance, especially when law enforcement agencies are tapping into the servers of companies like Facebook. After all, the Indian government and all other governments would have very little data to analyse if it weren’t for such corporations.

Surveillance is not just about “spying” or about “watching people” - it’s about much much more. Observing people’s behaviour only really becomes harmful when the data observed is collected, retained, analysed, shared and disclosed to unauthorised third parties. In other words, surveillance is meaningful to examine because it involves the analysis of data, which in turn involves pattern matching and profiling, which can potentially have actual, real-world implications - good or bad. But such analysis cannot be possible without having access to large volumes of data - most of which belong to large corporations, like Facebook. The question, though, is: How do corporations collect such large volumes of personal data, which they subsequently share with law enforcement agencies? Simple: Because we “choose” to hand over our data!

Three years ago, when I was doing research on young people’s perspective of Facebook, all of the interviewees replied that they feel that they are in control of their personal data, because they “choose” what they share online. While this may appear to be a valid point, the “choice” factor can widely be debated on. There are many reasons why people “choose” to hand over their personal data, whether to buy a product, use a service, to communicate with peers or because they feel socially pressured into using social networking sites. Nonetheless, it all really comes down to one main reason: convenience. Today, in most cases, the reason why we hand over our personal data online in exchange for products or services is because it is simply more convenient to do so. And while that is understandable, at the same time we are exposing our data (and ultimately our lives) in the name of convenience.

The irony in all of this is that, while many people reacted to Snowden ’s revelations on NSA dragnet surveillance, most of these people probably have profiles on Facebook. Secret, warrantless government surveillance is undeniably intrusive, but in the end of the day, our profiles on Facebook - and on all the ‘Facebooks’ of the world - is what enabled it to begin with. In other words, if we didn’t choose to give up our personal data - especially without really knowing how it would be handled - large databases would not exist and the NSA - and all the ‘NSAs’ of the world - would have had a harder time gathering and analysing data.

In short, the main difference between state and corporate surveillance is that the first is imposed in a top-down manner by authorities, while the second is a result of our “choice” to give up our data. While many may argue that it’s worse to have control imposed on you, I strongly disagree. When control and surveillance are imposed on us in a top-down manner, it’s likely that we will perceive this - sooner or later - as a direct threat to our human rights, which means that it’s likely that we will resist to it at some point. People usually react to what they perceive as a direct threat, whereas they rarely react to what does not directly affect them. For example, one may perceive murder or suicide as a direct threat due the immediateness of its effect, whereas smoking may not be seen as an equally direct threat, because its consequences are indirect and can usually be seen in the long term. It’s somehow like that with surveillance.

University students have protested on the streets against the installation of CCTV cameras, but how many of them have profiles on social networking sites, such as Facebook? People may react to the installation of CCTV cameras, because it may appear as a direct threat to their right to privacy. However, the irony is that the real danger does not necessarily lie within some CCTV cameras, but rather within the profile of each person on a major commercial social networking site. At very best, a CCTV camera will capture some images of us and through that, track our location and possibly our acquaintances. What type of data is captured through a simple, “harmless” Facebook profile? The following probably only includes a tiny percentage of what is actually captured:

- Personal photos

- Biometrics (possibly through photos)

- Family members

- Friends and acquaintances

- Habits, hobbies and interests

- Location (through IP address)

- Places visited

- Economic standing (based on pictures, comments, etc.)

- Educational background

- Ideas and opinions (which may be political, religious, etc.)

- Activities

- Affiliations

The above list could potentially go on and on, probably depending on how much - or what type - of data is disclosed by the individual. The interesting element to this is that we can never really know how much data we are disclosing, even if we think we control it. While an individual may argue that he/she chooses to disclose an x amount of data, while retaining the rest, that individual may actually be disclosing a 10x amount of data. This may be the case because usually every bit of data hides lots of other bits of data, that we may not be aware of. It all really comes down to who is looking at our data, when and why.

For example, (fictional) Priya may choose to share on her Facebook profile (through photos, comments, or any other type of data) that she is female, Indian, a Harvard graduate and that her favourite book is “Anarchism and other Essays ” by Emma Goldman. At first glance, nothing appears to be “wrong” with what Priya is revealing and in fact, she appears to care about her privacy by not revealing “the most intimate details” of her life. Moreover, one could argue that there is absolutely nothing “incriminating” about her data and that, on the contrary, it just reflects that she is a “shiny star” from Harvard. However, I am not sure if a data analyst would be restricted to this data and if data analysis would show the same “sparkly” image.

In theory, the fact that Priya is an Indian who attended Harvard reveals another bit of information, that Priya did not choose to share: her economic standing. Given that the majority of Indians live below the line of poverty, there is a big probability that Priya belongs to India’s middle class - if not elite. Priya may not have intentionally shared this information, but it was indirectly revealed through the bits of data that she did reveal: female Indian and Harvard graduate. And while there may not be anything “incriminating” about the fact that she has a good economic standing, in India this usually means that there’s also some strong political affiliation. That brings us to her other bit of information, that her favourite author is a feminist, anarchist. While that may be viewed as indifferent information, it may be crucial depending on the specific political actors in the country she’s in and on the general political situation. If a data analyst were to map the data that Priya chose to share, along with all her friends and acquaintances that she inevitably has through Facebook, that data analyst could probably tell a story about her. And the concerning part is that that story may or may not be true. But that doesn’t really matter.

Today, governments don’t judge us and take decisions based on our version of our data, but based on what our data says about us. And perhaps, under certain political, social and economic circumstances, our “harmless” data could be more incriminating than what we think. While an individual may express strong political views within a democratic regime, if that political system were to change in the future and to become authoritarian, that individual would possibly be suspicious in the eyes of the government - to say the least. This is where data retention plays a significant role.

Most companies retain data indefinitely or for a long period of time, which means that future, potentially less-democratic governments may have access to it. And the worst part is that we can never really know what data is being held about us, because within data analysis, every bit of data may potentially entails various other bits of data that we are not even aware of. So, when we “choose” to hand over our data, we don’t necessarily know what or how much we are choosing to disclose. Thus, this is why I agree with Bruce Schneier’s argument that people have an illusionary sense of control over their personal data.

Social network analysis software is specifically designed to mine huge volumes of data that is collected through social networking sites, such as Facebook. Such software is specifically designed to profile individuals, to create “trees of communication” around them and to match patterns. In other words, this software tells a story about each and every one of us, based on our activities, interests, acquaintances, and all other data. And as mentioned before, such a story may or may not be true.

In data mining, behavioural statistics are being used to analyse our data and to predict how we are likely to behave. When applied to national databases, this may potentially amount to predicting how masses or groups within the public are likely to behave and to subsequently control them. If a data analyst can predict an individual’s future behaviour - with some probability - based on that individuals’ data, the same could potentially occur on a mass, public level. As such, the danger within surveillance - especially corporate surveillance through which we voluntarily disclose massive amounts of data about ourselves - is that it appears to come down to public control.

According to security expert Bruce Schneier, data today is a byproduct of the Information Society. Unlike an Orwellian totalitarian state where surveillance is imposed in a top-down manner, surveillance today appears to widely exist because we indirectly choose and enable it (by handing over our data to online companies), rather than it being imposed on us in a solely top-down manner. However, contemporary surveillance may potentially be far worse than that described in Orwell’s “1984”, because surveillance is publicly perceived to be an indirect threat - if considered to be a threat at all. It is more likely that people will resist a direct threat, than an indirect threat, which means that the possibility of mass violations of human rights as a result of surveillance is real.

Hannah Arendt argued that a main prerequisite and component of totalitarian power is support by the masses. Today, surveillance appears to be socially integrated within societies which indicates that contemporary power fueled by surveillance has mass support. While the argument that surveillance is being socially integrated can potentially be widely debated on and requires an entire in depth research of its own, few simple facts might be adequate to prove it at this stage. Firstly, CCTV cameras are installed in most countries, yet there has been very little resistance - on the contrary, there appears to be a type of universal acceptance on the grounds of security. Secondly, different types of spy products exist in the market - such as Spy Coca Cola cans - which can be purchased by anyone online. Thirdly, countries all over the world carry out controversial surveillance schemes - such as the Central Monitoring System in India - yet public resistance to such projects is limited. And while one may argue that the above cases don’t necessarily prove that surveillance is being socially integrated, it would be interesting to look at a fourth fact: most people who have Internet access choose to share their personal data through the use of social networking sites.

Reality shows, such as Big Brother, which broadcast the surveillance of people’s lives and present it as a form of entertainment - when actually, I think it should be worrisome - appear to enable the social integration of surveillance. The very fact that we all probably - or, hopefully - know that Facebook can share our personal data with unauthorised third parties and - now, after the Snowden revelations - that governments can tap into Facebook’s servers, should be enough to convince us to delete our profiles. Yet, why do we still all have Facebook profiles? Perhaps because surveillance is socially integrated and perhaps because it is just convenient to be on Facebook. But that doesn’t change the fact that surveillance can potentially be a threat to our human rights. It just means that we perceive surveillance as an indirect threat and that we are unlikely to react to it.

In the long term, what does this mean? Well, it seems like we will probably be more acceptive towards more authoritarian power, that we will be used to the idea of censoring our own thoughts and actions (in the fear of getting caught by the CCTV camera on the street or the spyware which may or may not be implanted in our laptop) and that ultimately, we will be less politically active and more reluctant to challenge the authority.

What’s particularly interesting though about surveillance today is that it is fueled and enabled through our freedom of speech and general Internet freedom. If we didn’t have any Internet freedom - or as much as we do - we would have disclosed less personal data and thus surveillance would probably have been more restricted. The more Internet freedom we have, the more personal data we will disclose on Facebook - and on all the ‘Facebooks’ of the world - and the more data will potentially be available to mine, analyse, share and generally incorporate in the surveillance regime. So in this sense, Internet freedom appears to be a type of prerequisite of surveillance, as contradictory and ironic as it may seem. No wonder why the Chinese government has gone the extra mile in creating the Chinese versions of Facebook and Twitter - it’s probably no coincidence.

While we may blame governments for establishing surveillance schemes, ISP and TSP operators for complying with governments’ license agreements which often mandate that they create backdoors for spying on us and security companies for creating the surveillance gear in the first place, in the end of the day, we are all equally a part of this mess. If we didn’t choose to hand over our personal data to begin with, none of the above would have been possible.

The real danger in the Digital Age is not necessarily surveillance per se, but our choice to voluntarily disclose our personal data.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/why-facebook-is-more-dangerous-than-the-government-spying-on-you