Browsed by
Tag: Degree Prasad Chouhan

Human Rights Defenders Targeted by a Coordinated Spyware Operation

Human Rights Defenders Targeted by a Coordinated Spyware Operation

Amnesty International / By Amnesty Internatioanl & Citizen Lab

Amnesty International and the Citizen Lab have uncovered a coordinated spyware campaign targeting at least nine human rights defenders (HRDs) in India. Eight of the nine HRDs have been calling for the release of other prominent activists, popularly known as the Bhima Koregaon 11, most of whom have been imprisoned in Maharashtra, India since 2018.
Read more

Also Read: Human Rights Defenders Targeted by a Coordinated Spyware Operation

Rona Wilson’s hard disk contained malware that allowed remote access

Rona Wilson’s hard disk contained malware that allowed remote access

The Caravan / by Martand Kaushik and Anjeneya Sivan

On 17 April 2018, the Pune Police raided the Delhi home of Rona Wilson, a noted prison-rights activist, and arrested him for his alleged role in the violence at the Bhima Koregaon memorial in January that year. A few months later, the police claimed that it had found a letter on the hard disk of Wilson’s computer that contained details of a “naxal” plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi and “overthrow the government.”
Read more

Not Just WhatsApp, Snooping Attack on Indian Activists Was Through Email Too

Not Just WhatsApp, Snooping Attack on Indian Activists Was Through Email Too


Photo: EFF

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

Mumbai: It was not just Israeli spyware Pegasus that was used to digitally spy on human rights defenders and journalists in India.
A clear pattern of another well-coordinated and effectively designed digital attack has now emerged – this time through emails. These emails, all tailor-made to suit the interests of the individual receiver, were sent out between September and October 2019.
Read more

‘Government-backed attacks’: Google warned 500 Indians against hacking

‘Government-backed attacks’: Google warned 500 Indians against hacking

Sabrangindia / by Sabrangindia

The search giant issued over 12,000 warnings to users across the country against hacking state-sponsored attackers from July – Sept 2019.
The statement by Google read, “We’ve had a long-standing policy to send users warnings if we detect that they are the subject of state-sponsored phishing attempts, and have posted periodically about these before.”
Read more

Did Centre use spyware to tap WhatsApp calls?

Did Centre use spyware to tap WhatsApp calls?

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

Minister parries query, cites laws granting such power.
The Centre said it has the power to intercept, monitor and decrypt any information in the interest of the country based on certain conditions.
The Ministry of Home Affairs on Tuesday did not provide a direct answer when asked in the Lok Sabha if it had used the Pegasus spyware to intercept WhatsApp calls and messages of Indians activists and journalists.
Read more

DID CENTRE EVER SNOOP ON WHATSAPP CALLS? HOME MINISTRY AVOIDS ANSWERING DIRECTLY

20/11 /2019

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

In response to a question raised on Pegasus in parliament, the home ministry merely said that it has the powers to conduct lawful surveillance under the IT Act and Telegraph Act.
New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government on Tuesday avoided directly answering a question raised in parliament on whether it had ever used the controversial Pegasus software to tap on WhatsApp calls and messages in this country.
Read more

Whatsapp Spyware Attack: Bhima-Koregaon activists being spied on by the Centre?

Whatsapp Spyware Attack: Bhima-Koregaon activists being spied on by the Centre?

Sabrangindia / by Sabrangindia

The Whatsapp Snoopgate issue that spread like wildfire, not only had the general public under its attack, but lawyers defending the human rights activists arrested under the controversial Bhima Koregaon case have also confirmed that their phones were being targeted by Pegasus, a the surveillance software developed by Israeli company NSO group that came to be in question, The Huffington Post report.
Read more

Bela Bhatia, Anand Teltumbde, Shalini Gera among Indians snooped on using Israeli spyware

Bela Bhatia, Anand Teltumbde, Shalini Gera among Indians snooped on using Israeli spyware

Newslaundry / by Prateek Goyal

WhatsApp has revealed that the messaging app was used to spy on at least two dozen journalists and human rights activists, likely by the Indian government.
In a bombshell revelation, WhatsApp has revealed that the messaging app was used to spy on at least two dozen Indian journalists and human rights activists earlier this year, The Indian Express reported on Thursday.
Read more

Pegasus Spyware: Lawyer Defending Bhima-Koregaon Activists Received Warning from WhatsApp

Pegasus Spyware: Lawyer Defending Bhima-Koregaon Activists Received Warning from WhatsApp

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

Nihalsing Rathod says he was first contacted by CitizenLab researchers, who have done work on Pegasus, and then later by WhatsApp about his phone being compromised.
Mumbai: Over the last two years, Nagpur-based human rights lawyer Nihalsing Rathod has received receiving calls on WhatsApp from unknown numbers. These calls would be made from international numbers, and would invariably turn out to be a group call.
Read more

“Neither the `anonymous complaints´ nor the `threats of arrests´ are new for me“

“Neither the `anonymous complaints´ nor the `threats of arrests´ are new for me“

Round Table India / By Degree Prasad Chouhan

The state is continuously trying to establish a fake connection between naxals and me. I have been targeted by the state and non-state actors because of my sustained activism and my work against the feudal society, where the marginalized communities are suppressed and evicted, deprived of their human rights. This is branding and stigmatisation of Human Rights Defenders in India.
Read more

False allegations against Degree Prasad Chouhan

False allegations against Degree Prasad Chouhan

Statement by Frontline Defenders

Following the arrest of human rights defender Sudha Bharadwaj and four others on 26 October 2018, there is an imminent threat of false charges being brought against Dalit activist and human rights defender, Degree Prasad Chouhan. The police have already implicated the defender by name in a fake letter produced by them on 31 August 2018, which they claim was written by advocate Sudha Bharadwaj. There is a clear attempt by the police to smear the human rights defender as a Maoist militant and draw a false link between Degree Prasad Chouhan and the Bhima Koregaon violence which took place in January 2018.
Read more