Pegasus – Right to Privacy And State Intrusion

In India, the summer of dying is quickly morphing into what looks very much like a summer of spying.1 The Indian social media was rife in July on a big data dump on a large scale that revealed large scale surveillance and hacking attempts were allegedly made by the government to monitor and spy on an extensive host of public figures in India including journalists, bureaucrats, politicians, lawyers and even possible members of the judiciary. The leaked list revealed by Paris, Forbidden Stories, who is investigating into this matter along with Amnesty International and collegiums of 17 news organizations, working on Project Pegasus and their India’s associate in this issue, The Wire, has come up with a list of 300 names possibly snooped by Pegasus spyware and interestingly the majority of them are those who have hit the governments and questioned the truth in power. It is for the first time in the country’s history, spying was attempted on all the pillars of democracy.2

What is Pegasus? Is it only the mythological Greek name of the winged horse? Well, in the modern world it is a spyware that exploits the vulnerabilities of WhatsApp and phones to enter into a device and extract all data by spying through various modes. This software is developed by Israel’s private company; NSO group, which claims to make this software, is developed to fight against crime and terrorism. They also claim that this software is made available to only sovereign authorities and vetted governments.

The issue behind this is whether the government has purchased this software in the first place? and used this software to spy on its citizens rather than terrorists/criminals or not? The issue lies as it could be a reality or hypocrisy but before any final report, we cannot reach any pre-conceived conclusions. India is a robust democracy and it also could be an International plot to malign its image.

1 Arundhati Roy, There is no ordinary spying. Our most intimate selves are now exposed. The Guardian. (August 31, 2021, 1:54 P.M.), https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/27/spying-pegasus-project-states Arundhati-Roy

2 The wire, https://thewire.in/media/pegasus-project-press-bodies-condemn-spyware-attacks-against-journalists demand-problem, (last visited Aug 31, 2021)

Another perspective to this is, the burden of proof lies on the government to establish they have not breached the right to privacy of its civilians. If surveillance is not made by our government as claimed then such surveillance made by any unknown sources is an even bigger threat to our right to privacy and national integrity as well.

The parliament or judiciary or by executive resolution, prescribed certain rules following which, the government executes any surveillance and to such extent which is necessary and reasonable without breaching the right to privacy of its citizens. There is a need for certain laws which include such provisions, unlike the Data Protection Bill. Moreover, there is the utmost necessity of Specific, technical, and advanced legislation for the protection of the Right to Privacy acknowledged as part of Article 21 of the Constitution.

Anuj Gupta
Witer