Should the Government Snoop on Us?
This article is the analysis of the results of the Saturday Poll posted on India Institute’s Facebook page on 7 December, 2013 which asked the above question. To this interesting question, 69% of you have said that the government has no right to snoop on its citizens, whereas 18% of you that the government could snoop on its citizens, while the remaining 13% of you have opined that the government should be allowed to snoop on the citizens but with some kind of an accountability mechanism.India Institute
To the extent we are able to communicate across the world in a jiffy and use that ability to pull off spectacular changes in the social, economic and political spheres, we have lost control over our personal information and the right to privacy of our interactions. Not just on the Internet but also over telephone networks. That is the trade off we make with the companies in return for free technologies and and social media platforms. However, a more powerful player using but mostly misusing this power to snoop is the government, both nationally and internationally.The Gujarat snooping controversy is the latest in discussion but such transgressions by the government are not rare. The government can lawfully intercept voice calls and texts, emails, social media and the geographical location of individuals. In 2012, India sent in 4,750 requests to Google Inc. for user data, the highest in the world after the US. At the moment, interception orders are given by the Union Home Secretary and the state home secretaries. Every month at the central government level alone 7,000 to 9,000 phone taps are authorized or re-authorized apparently for security reasons.
To this interesting question, 69% of you have said that the government has no right to snoop on its citizens, whereas 18% of you that the government could snoop on its citizens, while the remaining 13% of you have opined that the government should be allowed to snoop on the citizens but with some kind of an accountability mechanism.