Government deaf to criticism spies on journalists it mocks, writes Anil Singh

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How ironic that the Indian government which is deaf to criticism secretly listens to every whisper of its detractors; spies on the very journalists he ridicules as baazaaru and prestitute; spy on stupid opposition leaders; swears by democracy but noses the Supreme Court, the Electoral Commission, the CBI, industrialists and even the man she finally appointed Minister of Information Technology!

Without the global media exposure of the Pegasus Project, the Indian government would have dismissed it, as in 2019. Developed and marketed by the Israeli group NSO, Pegasus is a cyber weapon; it can infiltrate a cell phone like a virus and turn it into a 24 hour surveillance device. Not only is spyware difficult to protect, it is also difficult to detect. Globally, the alleged victims include three sitting presidents – Frances Emmanuel Macron, Iraqis Barham Salih and South Africans Cyril Ramaphosa – and three current prime ministers; Pakistanis Imran Khan, Egyptians Mostafa Madbouly and Moroccans Saad-Eddine El Othmani.

Favorite target

In India, the preferred targets are journalists, to date around 40 of them. An independent digital forensic analysis conducted on 10 Indian phones showed signs of a successful or attempted hack by Pegasus. Among them are the anti-establishment journalist Siddharth Varadarajan of the news portal The Wire and the freelance journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta. The Pegasus software, whose sales to foreign governments must be approved by the Israeli government, helped Saudi Arabia spy on Jamal Khashoggi, dissident, journalist and columnist for the Washington Post, who was later killed in Turkey.

Project Pegasus began when the Paris-based nonprofit Forbidden Stories obtained a leak of a list of more than 50,000 phone numbers allegedly targeted for surveillance by NSO customers since 2016. organizations in ten countries, where 80 journalists have started to corroborate the details.

Reacting to the exhibit, Edward Snowden warned that no cell phone would be safe from state-sponsored hackers if governments did not impose a global moratorium on the international spyware trade. In fact, Snowden, who exposed the United States National Security Agency’s secret mass surveillance programs, believes that for-profit malware is an industry that shouldn’t exist.

Harvest Information

Once installed on a phone, Pegasus can harvest more or less any information or extract any file. The danger of its misuse in developing countries like India with its outdated laws, a lax security culture and a predatory government is enormous. One need only look at the sexual harassment case against former Indian chief justice Ranjan Gogoi: no less than 11 relatives and associates of the complainant have been placed under surveillance.

The current regime is spending all of its power to crush dissent and erase any semblance of democracy, but the opposition, especially Congress, is in deep hibernation. The judiciary lost its stature when SC judges began singing hymns for the prime minister while sending out notices of contempt for comedians. The mainstream media has gone from a watchdog to a pocket dog. The Radia tapes showed how publishers made Faustian deals. Without countervailing power, the Modi regime passed off its blunders for wonders.

Thus, a significant number were convinced that demonetization was the best thing for the Indian economy, followed by the GST; Rafael was a good deal; The Khalistanis were behind the agitation of the farmers; India made a Kargil in Galwan; oil prices were a test of patriotism; Muslims are said to be more numerous than Hindus; Nehru was Nero; Ram temple and Ram rajya are the same thing; gomutra is a godsend; left-wing liberals are urban Naxals; Judge Loya died of a heart attack; Father Stan Swamy died of a bad conscience; that the reverse migration of urban workers was a myth; that the lack of oxygen was AAP propaganda

India’s “Watergate”?

So, can Pegasus become India’s Watergate? Considering our Teflon PM and the lukewarm reaction from our leaders, with the exception of Mamata, it’s hard to be optimistic. There is a little hope on the part of the justice system and the media. The former is showing some spine lately and the latter is finally growing back. A jugalbandi between the two could mean serious problems for the government. Already two journalists, Patricia Mukhim and Anuradha Bhasin, have appealed to the Supreme Court to challenge the constitutional validity of the law on sedition.

Nothing prevents the 40 Indian journalists who were allegedly spied on from collectively taking justice against what is clearly a massive invasion of privacy, which the Supreme Court recently called a fundamental right. The SC may also examine the possibility of evidence being filed against dissidents to overturn the judicial process. There are enough lawyers ready to fight the good fight. After all, it was on attorney Shreya Singhals PIL that the Supreme Court struck down the loosely worded Section 66 (A) of the Information Technology Act that allowed cops to arrest just about anything. who. The tax raids on Dainik Bhaskar are an indication of the nervousness of governments in this regard.

Apart from a breach of privacy, this is also a case of national security as the Israeli government is likely to be aware of the espionage, given the nature of the contract.

Global outrage

And it’s not just the national media and the judiciary that the Indian government needs to be concerned about. Project Pegasus is making waves around the world and civil society is outraged by the revelations. In Azerbaijan, some activists found their intimate photographs posted online or on television.

In Mexico, activists, lawyers and human rights defenders are possible targets, including Eduardo Ferrer Mac-Gregor Poisot, a judge who served as president of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and Alejandro Solalinde, a Catholic priest and defender of migrants’ rights.

Rodney Dixon, a prominent London-based lawyer who has handled numerous high-profile human rights cases, was selected for target in 2019. A forensic phone analysis by French human rights lawyer Joseph Breham shows that he has been compromised several times with Pegasus. in 2019 and leaked documents suggest he had already been selected for potential targeting by Morocco.

Journalists’ organizations such as Reporters Without Borders (RSF) have called the NSO group a digital predator. The revelations about the use of the Pegasus spyware are shocking and revolting, given the extent of surveillance and the targeting of journalists. No, the NSO group does not contribute to global security and stability, contrary to what the company claims, said RSF general secretary Christophe Deloire.

As The Wire, the Indian partner of the Pegasus project, puts it: When governments claim to know nothing about illegal hacking on such a massive scale, they are hacking democracy. We have to be the antivirus that prevents it. We must continue to speak and be heard. To remain silent is to be an accomplice, it is to consent to this violation of democracy itself. It is a crime against the nation, committed by the state.

The electorate may take time to internalize it, but the government is all ears.

The writer is a freelance journalist based in Mumbai. He accepts comments on [email protected]

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