The Supreme Court of India will hear a batch of pleas seeking a probe into the alleged unauthorised use of Pegasus spyware for the surveillance of journalists and others next week. The court had previously ordered a technical panel to investigate the matter but received no reports. Senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for some petitioners, urged the court to pass directions as the reports were not shared. The court has now listed the matter for hearing on April 29.
Once the OS layer is opened to the State, it doesn't close, notes Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
With the Department of Telecom asking mobile phone makers to pre-install Sanchar Saathi application in new handsets, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday described it as a 'snooping app' and alleged that the government is turning the country into a dictatorship.
He will hold the office till February 9, 2027.
Demanding Bawankule's arrest, Raut claimed that the phones of several Opposition leaders were also being tapped in this manner.
Justice Surya Kant has been appointed as the 53rd Chief Justice of India, succeeding Justice Bhushan R Gavai. He will assume office on November 24 and serve until February 9, 2027.
Maharashtra Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal alleges Mumbai police surveillance, claiming an officer entered his room. He questions if CM Fadnavis ordered the snooping. BJP denies the allegations. Sapkal also raises questions about a hostage situation and accuses the CM of shielding criminals.
Justice Surya Kant is set to become the 53rd Chief Justice of India, bringing extensive experience and a record of significant verdicts on key issues.
'Instead of the government and telecom operators solving the mess of their own creation, they're telling us we need to give access to our phones perpetually.'
...compared with 153,000 in all of 2024.
Justice Surya Kant, who was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court on May 24, 2019, would have a tenure of over 1.2 years as the CJI. He is due to retire on February 9, 2027.
The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday questioned the issue of using "spyware against terrorists" and stated that any report touching upon the country's "security and sovereignty" won't be made public. The court indicated it might address individual concerns regarding privacy breaches, but the report of the technical committee would not be a document for public discussion. The court will examine the extent to which the report can be shared publicly. The court's statement came during a hearing on a petition related to the alleged use of Pegasus spyware for surveillance. The court also emphasized that "having spyware is not wrong, against whom you are using is the question" and that the security of the nation cannot be compromised. The hearing has been adjourned to July 30.
Special Ops 2 captures the spirit of the modern-day spy thriller and runs with it, observes Deepa Gahlot.
iPhone maker Apple has warned its users about ongoing Pegasus-like sophisticated spyware attacks that target a very small number of individuals often journalists, activists, politicians and diplomats.
It involves India spending an estimated Rs 40,000 crores to Rs 50,000 crores and will take 10 to 15 years to develop.
The Congress on Tuesday stepped up its attack on the government over the Pegasus snooping controversy and demanded a probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee.
He has also sought a direction to the Centre to take suitable steps to protect Indian citizens from the use of cyber-weapons or malware such as Pegasus.
A government source on Saturday said that the matter related to Pegasus software is being monitored by a committee under the Supreme Court and its report is awaited.
Given the costs, you would need to be a high-value target for a government agency to spend this sort of money, points out Devangshu Datta.
The technical committee appointed by the Supreme Court has now given more time, till February 8, for people to come forward and contact the panel if they suspected that their devices were infected by the Pegasus malware.
Union Minister Anurag Thakur hit out at Gandhi over his claims of being under surveillance by intelligence agencies and accused him of maligning India on foreign soil.
The pleas are related to reports of alleged snooping by government agencies on eminent citizens, politicians and scribes by using Israeli firm NSO's spyware Pegasus.
The Supreme Court-appointed panels probing the unauthorised use of Pegasus found some kind of malware in five mobile phones out of the 29 examined but it could not be concluded that it was due to the Israeli spyware.
'The phone numbers of over 40 Indian journalists appear on a leaked list of potential targets for surveillance, and forensic tests have confirmed that some of them were successfully snooped upon by an unidentified agency using Pegasus spyware,' report Anuj Srivas and Kabir Agarwal in The Wire.
An undeterred Chief Executive Officer of NSO Group, Shalev Hulio, in an interview to Israeli Channel 12 on Saturday, strongly defended the company's operations, though he also conceded that some 'mistakes' may have happened over the years.
He rejected the government's charges over the disruption of Parliament and said the Opposition was only fulfilling its responsibility.
A bench headed by the CJI said the apex court is not against debates but when the matter in pending in court, it should be deliberated upon here.
The petition, likely to come up for hearing within next few days, sought to investigate if the illegal hacking into the phones using the Pegasus spyware represented an attempt by agencies and organisations to muzzle and chill the exercise of free speech and expression of dissent in India.
The analysis showed that two backups of the iPhone 6s belonging to Wilson had digital traces showing infection by the Pegasus surveillance tool, which its developer, the Israeli cybersecurity firm NSO Group, has said has been licensed only to government agencies.
Communist Party of India's member of Parliament Binoy Viswam on Monday submitted a notice to move a privilege motion against Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw for his statement in Parliament last year on the Pegasus spyware issue.
"What is this? Last time you (West Bengal government) had given an undertaking, which we wanted to record, that the commission will not proceed. You had said that it was not necessary to record in the order. Again you started inquiring," said the bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana
As per the cause list uploaded on the apex court website, a bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justice Surya Kant will hear nine separate pleas on the issue related to reports of alleged snooping by government agencies on eminent citizens, politicians and scribes by using Israeli firm NSO's spyware Pegasus.
The Congress on Saturday attacked the Centre over a New York Times report which claimed that the Indian government bought the Pegasus spy tool in 2017 as part of a deal with Israel, alleging that the government indulged in illegal snooping using the spyware which amounts to 'treason.'
Tharoor put the blame for the logjam in Parliament on BJP and accused the saffron party of reducing the "temple of democracy to a rubber stamp for its agenda or worse, a notice board to announce its unilateral decisions".
The Opposition on Wednesday hardened its stand on the Pegasus spyware issue with 14 parties unitedly demanding a debate in Parliament in the presence of the prime minister or the home minister and a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the matter.
A massive political row has erupted after media reports claimed that Pegasus spyware was used to conduct surveillance on about 300 Indians, including ministers, political leaders, government officials and journalists.
The public notice, issued in leading dailies on Sunday, said "such person who suspects her/his device is infected" should send an email to the technical committee "before noon of January 7, 2022".
"For women, the Pegasus scandal is deeply concerning, for speaking out against the state and men in positions of state power has meant that their lives are wrecked by such surveillance permanently.
The report also referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Israel in July 2017.
The SC, in October last year, had ordered a probe into the alleged use of the spyware.
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