The Snooping Affair
The pandemic period yet unlocks another mystery leaving us even more vulnerable than before and exposed to umpteen threats of personal security. Globalization has left us unshielded from top-notch technical know-how and coveted traps of spyware.
At present, Pegasus, symbolic of the epitome of magical beauty from Greek mythology, is ironically wreaking havoc in the real world. Pegasus is a stellar product developed by the Israeli tech NSO group founded by Niv Carmi, Shalev Hulio, and Omri Lavie in 2010. The specific spyware enables obscure espionage on target mobiles, giving the attacker access to a host of the user’s personal information, call records, social media activity and chats, browsing history, and bank information. The stark feature of Pegasus gaining attention is the ‘no click interface’ that enables its invasion through a missed call, a text message, or an internet voice or video call which catches people off guard, leaving no chance for self-assessment or tracking.
The contemporary investigation by French NGO Forbidden Stories with the tech support by British Amnesty International reported a list of 50,000 contacts that have been or will be the potential targets of the treacherous software. The authenticity of the probe confirmed by the Canadian Lab paints a larger picture of looming threats to the Democratic Institutions prevalent today. With the malware finding its connections in over 40 countries including India, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Bahrain, UAE, and Hungary; the constitution of these countries is losing its roots.
The Constitution of India promises us a sovereign, socialist, secular, and democratic republic. Time is a grim reminder of the weakening essence of these moral guiding principles of our nation and 40 Indian journalists, activists, judges and ministers appearing in the exposé list of the Pegasus Snooping affair attest to the same.
Imported on the pretext of national security and anti-terrorism operations, the government has deviously crafted its ulterior motives and targeted eminent personalities from the judiciary, executive, and legislature. Besides, it also brought the fervent passion of journalism in its surveillance ambit; leaving no scope for liberty and expression. The draft report speaks for itself and the presence of anti-government elements in it vouches for the foul play by those in power.
The targets were mainly opposition leaders like Rahul Gandhi, people holding crucial offices like election strategist Prashant Kishore and EC Ashok Lavasa, CBI personnel like Rakesh Asthana and Alok Verma, activists and dissents against Ex- CJI Ranjan Gogoi, and journalists or editors like Sushant Singh, Roshini Singh working closely to bring out facts of critical government dealings.
Amplifying the trend of 300 Indian scapegoats provides sheer evidence of extreme intolerance and bluff of the government. This contemptible political move is being mobilized for unleashing authoritarianism by manipulating elections, turning critical court decisions, suppressing political dissent, owning the media, blackmailing the activists and moulding the masses to its whims and fancies. Alluding to the catastrophe, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted, ‘The #Pegasus revelations are abhorrent. If true, the Modi government seems to have launched a grave and sinister attack on the Right to Privacy — constitutionally guaranteed to Indian citizens as a Fundamental Right.’
The government defending its dictatorship is playing its old cards and misleading the general masses by establishing a false dichotomy by propounding the probe as an international geopolitical tactic to trap India and its growing dominance in the world. If that is the case, then why can’t the whooping increase in the national security budget yet find a basis? Why not initiate a Supreme Court-led investigation probe to inquire into the cause? Why is democracy losing ground?
~ About the Author ~
Janvi is a Commerce Major from Lady Shri Ram College for Women.
Always on the lookout for new opportunities, she has a knack for opinionated and research-based content.
She loves to socialize, chat and laugh endlessly and learn from others.
