Political Diary
New Delhi, 2 March 2013
Phone-Tapping
Scandal
HELLO, I AM HEARING
YOU
By Poonam I Kaushish
Much ado about nothing or opening a Pandora’s Box? Two
questions which generated heat over the eavesdropping of our netagans phones. Yet another indicator
of our low and dirty politics, sans morality and ethics. Is rajnetik chhal-kapat the new name of the
game?
It all started with revelations about Rajya Sabha Opposition
Leader Arun Jaitley’s call data records (CDR) being accessed by a detective Anurag
Singh which has snowballed into another 60 high-profile names being tapped.
Predictably, all hell broke loose in the Rajya Sabha with MPs
cutting across Party lines including UPA allies slamming the Government for
snooping on rival leaders Friday last. Many alleged that CDRs of nearly 100 MPs
were being read. Even as Union Home Minister Shinde stoutly denied this he refused
to give any timeframe.
Who is Anurag Singh? An MBBS doctor-turned-private eye-cyber
expert-hacker he obtained CDRs of innumerable politicians and businessmen
through police constable Arvind Dabas who used the login and password of an
Assistant Commissioner of Police. Interestingly he was arrested in 2006 for
tapping Amar Singh phones but released. Reportedly, he is close to the Delhi
Police and IB who use him regularly to track down LeT and Indian Mujahedeen
terrorists and their sleeper cells.
Raising a moot point: How can Shinde assert that Jaitley’s phone
was not tapped? Is his case a tip of the iceberg? Is there a larger conspiracy? Who ordered the unauthorised surveillance?
How can a constable use an ACP’s password without the support and knowledge of
higher authorities? Is there any political rivalry behind these incidents? Are
we slowly degenerating from a democracy into a police State?
Clearly, there is more than meets the eyes. At one level,
many believe Jaitley’s CDR to be “internal sabotage” within the BJP. Already
Singh has confessed to being in touch with Sudhanshu Mittal close confidante of
deceased BJP stalwart Pramod Mahajan. Incidentally, Jaitley has a long-standing
feud with Mittal, and called him a “tentwallah.”
At another, revelations point that beside Jaitley, ex Party
President Gadkhari among others, former IPL Chairman Lalit Modi, Delhi corporate honcho
and a Mumbai businessman were on the detective’s radar. Police is also
scrutinizing the role of two corporate houses whose dirty tricks departments
are always active in gathering information about rivals.
In fact, according to Supreme Court guidelines, only the
Union Home Secretary is empowered to ask Central agencies for tapping phones.
Look at the dichotomy. While there is a law against phone tapping, there is no
law against illegal access of CDRs. Thus, with cell phones becoming the
communication mode more instances are coming to light of not just security
agencies but even cellular company employees selling telephone records of rival
companies for a consideration or just listening in on conversations.
Undeniably, phone-tapping is undertaken the world over for
reasons of national security or serious crimes. Distressingly, however the
Central and State Governments take recourse to “illegal” phone-tapping to keep
track of their own flock, political opponents using legitimate purposes of
militants and anti-social elements as a perfect camouflage.
In fact, there have been several phone tapping scandals recently.
Only last week the Congress Government in Himachal released a report by the
State Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau disclosing that the previous BJP
Government tapped around 500 phones of politicians, bureaucrats and
journalists.
Recall, how phone tapping was taken recourse to in an
attempt to destabilize the BJP-BSP coalition Government in UP in 2001.
Allegedly a political fixer tapped the phones of the BSP rebels to ensure that
they did not desert the Party. Who cares if it is violation of an individual’s
basic right to privacy, his fundamental right to freedom of speech and illegal
and violation of Telegraph Act.
Also, two Lashkar-e-Toiba
terrorists were nabbed by the Delhi
police on the basis of their cellphone records. The cricket scandal of match
fixing was also exposed thanks to the tapping of the phones of bookies and the
former South African captain, Hansie Cronje in 2000.
According to intelligence sources, it is easy to hack and
illegally obtain call records and even email accounts of VVIPs. All it takes is
the right equipment and the bank account to support the investment. A linesman
sitting near the telephone exchange arranges a parallel connection to tap the
conversation.
Another way to eavesdrop is to place a transmitter,
one-fourth the size of a matchbox, between the telephone exchange and phones.
Else get the 'Encrypted Devices' and software available in Israel and
other countries costing from Rs 5000-Rs 5 crores to code/decode languages of
conversations. In fact these are regularly used by the IB, RAW, three Defence
wings, NIA et al.
Not only that. With computer-based portable interception
devices recording conversation and SMS remotely along-with organizing it neatly
in a database for future reference, tapping into cellphone is becoming child's
play. Easy to operate with the push of a few buttons, these devices come in
user-friendly packaging and can be operated on car cigarette lighters. Cellular
phone company computers can record millions of movements going back to more
than a year and therefore the location of a user at any given time or date can
be traced to within a few hundred meters of the exact spot.
Security agencies are now understood to be actively making
what are called "plotter's charts" in their terminology. The
cellphone of a person visiting New
Delhi can be locked in their beams by sleuths and even
if he does not discuss confidential issues, the signals can track his
movements. Though there are methods to prevent tapping, not many make use of
them. This involves the use of debugging instrument and scramblers. While
abroad people use scrambles which are superior to debugging, its price keeps
people away.
Despite assertions by successive Governments regarding
introduction of a new-age legislation and setting up of an organisation to
oversee telecom companies, we do not appear to have travelled very far towards
ensuring privacy and a fair deal for telecom subscribers.
Undeniably, the Jaitley issue has highlighted the time has
come for a debate on the invasion of privacy. It is not merely an issue of
washing of dirty political linen to score petty points. But as more and more
people turn to higher technology-based phones, privacy and grievance redress
will become more and more contentious as it involves the basic issue of human
rights. Questions rarely addressed by Parties.
What next? The Government is planning to bring the Private
Detective Agencies Regulation Bill in the next session of Parliament. Recall,
it was first tabled in 2007 but sent back after the Standing Committee, then
headed by Opposition Leader Sushma Swaraj, raised several objections. If passed it would make it mandatory for
private detectives to obtain a license from the Home Ministry.
In this murky political world where the winner takes it all,
the time has come for the Government to prescribe a fresh set of guidelines
barring “illegal” tapping phones. Or else it could turn into a scandalous “political
tool and trade practice’. If we do not cry a halt now, the country may well end
up as a police state. What gives? ----- INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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