After a report revealed that government used Israeli¡¯s Pegasus software to snoop on Indian activists, journalists and lawyers and sent the nation into a collective hysteria, the government has flatly denied purchasing the software, let alone using it.
On October 23, an RTI was filed by activist Saurav Das in which he asked whether the Indian government purchased or gave purchase order for the Pegasus software from the NSO Group.
In response to the RTI, the Ministry of Home Affairs said, ¡°Please refer to your online RTI application dated 23.10.2019 received by the undersigned CPIO on 24.10.2019. It is informed that no such information is available with the undersigned CPIO."
Reuters
"An appeal, if any, against this reply can be made within 30 days," the MHA reply added.
Pegasus spyware allegedly exploited WhatsApp¡¯s video calling system by installing the spyware via missed calls to snoop on 1,400 select users worldwide. More than 20 people were affected in India.
In a statement on November 1, WhatsApp responded in a statement reading, "Our highest priority is the privacy and security of WhatsApp users. In May we quickly resolved a security issue and notified relevant Indian and international government authorities. Since then we¡¯ve worked to identify targeted users to ask the courts to hold the international spyware firm known as the NSO Group accountable. We agree with the government of India it's critical that together we do all we can to protect users from hackers attempting to weaken security. WhatsApp remains committed to the protection of all user messages through the product we provide."
The ruling BJP and opposition Congress locked horns over the alleged snooping.
AFP
IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad joined the deliberation, saying the government was worried about the breach of the privacy of citizens of India on WhatsApp and has asked the messaging platform for a clarification.
The government has asked for a response from Facebook-owned WhatsApp till November 4.
While WhatsApp has not acknowledged anyone by name, users including lawyers, academics, Dalit rights activists and journalists have come forward to say they received warnings from the messaging that they were the targets of espionage.