Is Modi’s BJP introducing Big Brother?
Financial Times / by Benjamin Parkin & Stephanie Findlay
Privacy data bill provides chance to follow the European model or China’s approach.
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Will Investigation into Phone Tapping in Maharashtra Open Pandora’s Box?
Newsclick / by Amey Tirodkar
Maharashtra government has constituted a two-member committee on Monday to probe into the complaints of phone tapping made by a number of political leaders including Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Chief Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut. They have alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) used police machinery to keep a watch on political opponents especially during the formation of the new three-party government in state.
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Deputy CM raises doubts in case against 10 activists, seeks proof in 15 days
Pic: Spolidarity program in Delhi (2019)
Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff
Ajit Pawar and Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh held a review meeting with the Pune Police on Thursday.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar told the Pune Police that a letter recovered from Delhi-based activist Rona Wilson last year, allegedly showing a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared to be a spoof obtained from suspicious sources, The Hindu reported on Friday.
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Israeli Court Bans Media From Pegasus Spyware Case Trials
News Click / by Peoples Dispatch
Israeli company NSO exports the Pegasus spyware, which has been used by governments across the world against opposition activists and journalists, including in India.
In an apparent move to save the NSO group – owner of the Pegasus spyware – from public criticism, an Israeli court cited national security concerns and ordered a closed-door hearing in the case against the company.
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State officials among those who bought the spyware: Digvijay
Mumbai Mirror / by Shruti Ganapatye
WhatsApp privacy breach: Spyware Pegasus was used to snoop on activists, journalists, political dissidents; state home minister promises probe.
Four months after WhatsApp made a sensational disclosure that Israeli spyware Pegasus was used to snoop on some Indian citizens, senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh claimed yesterday that the Maharashtra government officials had visited Israel to purchase the technology.
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Digvijaya: Govt. must appoint retired judge to probe `managed’ cases against activists
The Hindu / by Shoumojit Banerjee
The Congress leader says ‘the previous govt. nearly framed me as an ‘urban Naxal’ in the Bhima-Koregaon-Elgaar Parishad case, which only proves that it was a managed case where good activists are still behind bars’
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Demolishing Human Rights in India
Sabrang India / by Fr Cedric Prakash
This past year from December 2018, had two significant 70th anniversaries: first, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (10 December 1948) and then, of the promulgation of the Constitution of India (November 26, 2019). It is quite certain that the makers of the Indian Constitution took inspiration from the UDHR. Strangely enough, as if on cue, everything possible is done by the powers that control the destiny of the nation, to demolish human rights and the values enshrined in the Constitution!
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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.
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If you are in a university and oppose state policy, you can be targeted: Hany Babu, DU professor
The Caravan / by Shaheen Ahmed & Maya Palit
In the early hours of 10 September 2019, a team of police officials, including personnel from the Pune Police, turned up at the doorstep of Hany Babu MT, an associate professor in the University of Delhi’s English department. … The police informed Babu that the search was conducted in connection with the Elgar Parishad and Bhima Koregaon case. …
Shaheen Ahmed and Maya Palit, the multimedia and books editors at The Caravan, respectively, spoke to Babu about the raid at his house and its aftermath.
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‘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.”
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