Dear Comrades,
Within a month after the whistle blowing by Edward Snowden against the breach of security of citizens leading to the PRISM scandal, comes another incident that shows how Indian governance isn't good at ensuring privacy of its citizens either. In an extremely shocking incidents, the CCTV footages that are meant for safety in Delhi Metro stations and trains proved otherwise as hundreds of videos of couples getting intimate were leaked to pornographic websites.
While the Central reserve Police Force and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation are playing the blame game, it is evident that the information has been severely mishandled by those directly involved with the organization as no outsider can access to it. It does point out to a big loophole that exists in the security system. Surely one should maintain decency in public areas but now that the damage is done who is going to compensate for the embarrassment that the people involved in the security breach suffer?
This isn't the only area where India's inability of handling sensitive data is seen. Centralized Monitoring System meant to ensure and safeguard citizen's privacy has been criticized for not maintaining a stronghold on the interception of communication that is yet not centralized. The service providers with appropriate infrastructure have indulged in electronic snooping and accessed information without proper authorization. To prevent this vast amount of rules and procedures like encryption using public key infrastructure, destruction of information after six months etc. have been chalked out but since they are not yet made mandatory, cases of unauthorized access have been seen. Many of us might be unaware that nine government agencies have been authorized for interception in India: Intelligence Bureau, Central Bureau of Investigation, Narcotics Control Bureau, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Enforcement Directorate, Research & Analysis Wing, National Investigation Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency and surprisingly enough Central Board of Direct Taxes. Can we expect them do deal with information responsibly? If interception was centralized, probably monitoring could have been easier.
While on one hand the need to be up to date with technology and all the methods to safeguard the nation against terrorist attacks is of primary concern, misuse of the same would lead to the loss of freedom that a democratic country promises its citizens. This concern also resonates around another new body formed to monitor online activities and cyber crime: National Cyber Coordination Centre which works in close association with other intelligence agencies. On the good side the government is framing the Privacy Bill but again the question remains on what all aspects it will cover and when or whether it will ever become effective.
With many other projects like India's Unique Identification Number project that gathered a vast amount of private data, the kind of carelessness that happened in Delhi Metro could lead to drastic effects on people. While some measures have been taken to make sure a breach is handled well but the disappointing aspect is that first the project/agencies are rolled out and then the system for tackling data mishandling is being worked upon while it should be the top concern.
http://www.coolage.in
