Privacy security

Privacy in Internet Era: Four Government Surveillance Programs You Must Know About

What we have today is ubiquitous surveillance and whether we like it or not, all of us are being watched all the time. The government’s efforts to implement programs of mass surveillance could soon put us at par with the NSA in the US and British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). Some of the noteworthy mass surveillance projects by the Indian government include:

1. Central Monitoring System (CMS): The CMS is the country’s ace surveillance project which aims to create a system that provides central and direct access to information without any intervention by third parties. Developed by the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), the CMS is capable of accessing all communication data (telephone calls, both mobile and landline, VoIP calls, emails, and other communication on social media). In essence, the CMS is an extension of the already existing ‘Lawful Interception and Monitoring System’ which telecom and internet service providers are required to install. The service providers are required to integrate Interception Store and Forward (ISF) servers which are connected to various Regional Monitoring Centres. What this essentially means is that the CMS has direct access to vast amounts of real-time data and metadata of users. Although much information does not exist about the program, the government apparently has been running trials in gradual phases. Going by the available information, the Indian government may have been successful in creating India’s version of PRISM program run by the NSA...