C-DoT's Surveillance System Making Enemies on Internet

The Central Monitoring System (CMS) developed by the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT) has come under fire from a France-based non-profit organisation, which claims the system has the capacity to directly snoop on all forms of communications over phone and internet, without involving telecom operators.

The NGO's Reporters Without Boundaries report 2014, 'Enemies of the Internet' has equated C-DoT with Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in the UK, and the US's National Security Agency (NSA), which recently came under criticism for spying on citizens.

CMS, India's mass electronic surveillance system, was rolled out in 2013.

Before the CMS, tapping was done by the telecom operators, but not before taking prior permission. The CMS gives direct access to C-DoT employees and law-enforcement agencies.

CMS has created an automated front containing central and regional databases, which central and state government agencies can use to intercept and monitor any landline, mobile or internet connection in India.

Minister of state for information technology Milind Deora said, "The new data collection system will actually improve citizens' privacy because telecommunications companies would no longer be directly involved in the surveillance."

Asked what would prevent C-DoT employees, who would have access to data, from misusing it, Deora said, "There is a switching mechanism (that) diverts the call to law-enforcement agencies and eliminates layers. The existing surveillance and interception system is actually insecure as the operator, people from the home ministry and other government officials have access to the data. The CMS will erase such people from play."

"I want the people to know the design aspects and how the system is being used for lawful interceptions, so that they can shed their inhibitions. We do not want to put power in the hands of the bureaucrats," he said.

Harold D'Costa, a cyber security expert who trains Maharashtra and Goa police, said, "It's possible that employees of C-DoT or law enforcement agencies could use the information gathered by CMS for personal or political use although 43 and 43A of the IT Act would protect people when something like that happens and will give the person compensation."

He said, "There should be more transparency with regard to CMS".

Sunil Abraham, executive director of Bangalore-based non-profit Centre for Internet and Society, said the mistaken assumption in their thinking is technology will serve as a check and balance.

"Technology can always be compromised," he said. "There is no way to find out about what is actually going on. If the CMS is abused it is very difficult to prove."

Deora said a privacy law is being drafted to address these issues. Last month, a parliamentary standing committee rejected the government claim that the IT Act protects citizens' privacy. The committee, chaired by former Congress MP Rao Inderjit Singh, said, "The committee is extremely unhappy to note that the government is yet to institute a legal framework on privacy."