(By Massimiliano D'Elia) The size of the Indian telecom market has grown exponentially in recent years. The country's economic survey last year revealed that wireless data usage rose from an average of 1,24GB per person per month in 2018 to over 14GB in 2022.
Every day, a flood of personal data passes through the landing stations of the submarine cables that proliferate around the Indian coast, linking communications from the world's most populous country to the rest of the globe. In each of these stations is installed a hardware apparently harmless that searches, copies and transmits, upon specific request, the data to the Indian security agencies. To make the interface "foolproof" artificial intelligence is then used for data analysis.
Security for the Prime Minister's government Narendra Modi is a priority and therefore spying on its 1,4 billion citizens is not illegal because the activity is directly managed by the Minister of the Interior, according to an existing law considered by many activists to be no longer current because it refers to the Telegraph Act of 1885.
In India this thriving market allows for new ones every day startups to propose innovative digital data surveillance systems to institutions. Among the national developers excels the See, but the government also uses more proven Israeli groups such as Cognite o septier.
Right on Israeli companies the Financial Times has carried out a careful analysis in the light of the international events that have affected them.
septier is blacklisted Atlantic Council why its conduct was deemed “irresponsible” in 2021: “a company that for profit is willing to accept or ignore the risk that its products enhance the capabilities of governments or private clients that could threaten the national security of the United States and of NATO or harm entire populations”. Septier responded to the Atlantic Council's allegations by labeling them "pure speculation". Septier at the FT said that “the company's sales to foreign entities are regulated by the Israeli authorities and all activities are conducted in full compliance with current laws". He added that details about his customers and the types of products he supplies are confidential.
The Israeli Cognite, spun off from Verint software group in 2021 and listed on Nasdaq is another leading supplier of surveillance products in India. In 2021 Meta said that Cognyte was one of several companies whose services were being used to track journalists and politicians in different countries, without however ever mentioning India.
India has also used the notorious software of Israeli espionage Pegasus of the NSO Group, which leapt onto the global media front pages when the tool's hacking (trojan) was then found on the smartphones of journalists and activists in 2019 and 2021.
Also confirming the Indian government's "monitoring" activity is a recent law on the protection of personal data which gives the authorities broad powers to circumvent privacy safeguards. But the history of mass controls by governments is nothing new. Ten years ago the leaks of Edward Snowden they revealed that the US and British intelligence agencies they engaged in mass surveillance through agreements with telecommunications companies, collecting and keyword-searching large amounts of data on civilian communications, rather than focusing only on those of suspects.
Since then, Western telecommunications companies have largely resisted government pressure to install computer architectures that provide unlimited access to customer data, instead asking investigative agencies to submit a court order to allow only targeted wiretaps.
In contrast, in India, security agencies and law enforcement agencies only need to seek permission, on a case-by-case basis, from the Home Secretary to access data through monitoring equipment, but do not have to go to the courts. Civil liberties activists argue that these regulations are inadequate and lack judicial oversight, given that the legal framework is based in part on the colonial-era Telegraph Act of 1885.
In 2022, India's home ministry said the central government was issuing 7.500 to 9.000 orders per month for wiretapping. The news was highly criticized by the various privacy protection associations who cast doubts on the real control activity of the interior minister, given the amount of requests, which suggest more of a mass control.
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