Nationwide Snooping System Launched In India

knwny writes "The Times of India reports that 'India has launched a wide-ranging surveillance program that will give its security agencies and even income tax officials the ability to tap directly into e-mails and phone calls without oversight by courts or parliament, several sources said.'" Adds an anonymous reader: "What's chilling is the comments from senior officials indicating that parts of the program are already live, without absolutely any discussion in public about it."

Comments

Outlook.com

[futuramasd]

Outlook.com has NEVER given emails to any agendy to read. When you get Microsoft Outlook, your data is safe.

Cheers,
David Futura

Re:Outlook.com

[Geccoman]

Only "data" was shared, not the actual email! Trust us!

Code monkey see, code monkey do

[stewsters]

This is the real damage the NSA has done in spying on the American people. Now every other country feels like they need it, because the US does. In the west, it used to be bashed as something only oppressive regimes did. Soon it will be everyone.

Re:Code monkey see, code monkey do

[sl4shd0rk]

Soon it will be everyone.

You mean, Soon we will find it has been everyone.

Re:Code monkey see, code monkey do

[Anonymous Coward]

This is the real damage the NSA has done in spying on the American people. Now every other country feels like they need it, because the US does. In the west, it used to be bashed as something only oppressive regimes did. Soon it will be everyone.

The whole NSA spying is the knee-jerk reaction to terrorism and the stupidity of the US electorate who elected the politicians who enabled the NSA- every asshole in Congress who voted for the PATRIOT Act is as fault here and every person who keeps voting for those assholes is at fault too.

BUT, our assholes wouldn't have been able to do it if it weren't for other assholes who are under the impression that indiscriminate violence against people (terrorism) will allow them to achieve their goals. I mean, since 9/11, has ANY of Al-Qaeda's goal been achieved?

No.

The only thing they caused was further hardships on their Muslim "brothers", increased contempt of the religion they think they follow (Muslims, many look down on you because of Al-Qaeda and their ilk.), and more power to the despots that control their home governments.

Or let's look at the IRA. The best they got out of the English was a bone thrown to them.

Who's doing it right? Tibet.

No matter how hard the Chinese try, they just can't seem to make Tibet look bad. And why is that?

The Tibetans aren't blowing up towers filled with innocent people.

Re:Code monkey see, code monkey do

[cold fjord]

This is the real damage the NSA has done in spying on the American people. Now every other country feels like they need it, because the US does.

Ah, cultural chauvinism.... how on earth could those other people find the way if they didn't have an example to follow? I'll break it to you gently: Neither the terrorism by al Qaida nor the alleged surveillance by the Indian government has much of anything to do with the US. They each have their own independent values, ideals, goals, and work to achieve them. Spying by government and terrorism existed long before the United States, and it wasn't psychic powers anticipating the United States that induced people to engage in those practices then any more than it does today.

Al Qida wants to restore what they believe to be the lost glory of Islamic civilization of a 1,000 years ago, recreate the Islamic Caliphate that was dissolved in 1923 after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, conquer the world for Islam, and convert the world's peoples to Islam. They want to overthrow pretty much all of the existing governments in Muslim nations for not following their strict interpretation of Islam. You may think it is unrealistic, but that is their goal, even if it takes 1,000 years. The existence of nonexistence of the United States has little to do with it. If you want to blame anyone, blame Europe for repelling the Muslim invasion at the gates of Vienna in 1683.

And when it comes to India, the largest democracy in the world, as a rapidly modernizing country that is supplier of IT talent to the world, why should they be left out of the surveillance sweepstakes? They might have a reasonable concern or two at home, given they have an active Maoist communist insurgency, which conducted 351 attacks in 2011, and a bit of a terrorism problem arising from both their neighbor Pakistan and a small fraction of the native 100,000,000 Indian citizens that are Muslim. Maybe you've heard of the Mumbai attack? As it happened: Mumbai attacks 29 Nov - 195 people dead and hundreds more injured.

The Indian people and government will have to find their own way, and strike their own balance to match their own conditions, traditions, and laws.

What point does public discussion serve?

[fustakrakich]

They will just do it anyway, a bit more covertly perhaps. Public opinion is bullshit. The majority of us are against war (I assume), yet we are at war. We hate congress, yet reliably reelect almost all of them. Eh, that's politics for ya. Doesn't matter the country.

Outsourcing Concern

[TheAngryMob]

So, does this mean that the Indian Government will get to see everything that's outsourced to India, including US Government contracts?

Basically, any corrupt Indian official (which apparently, there are more than a few) with access can sell trade and/or government secrets from any outsourced company.

Way to set the standard NSA.

Re:Precisely, and whether we care to admit it..

[Anonymous Coward]

The U.S. sets the international standard. If the U.S. is doing it, it must be okay.

Exactly.

It will be quite interesting to see if people in other nations take to the streets in protest while most USians have shown they'll continue the status quo eating cheeseburgers and watching wrasslin'.

self fulfilling prophecy

[hurwak-feg]

The irony of governments paranoid enough to spy on their own people because they are out to get them is that the spying will make the people out to get them. It seems the adversarial relationship between government and citizens (subjects?) is often strengthened (as in creates further conflict) by the entity with the influence to create a more cooperative relationship. Having a more cooperative attitude and doing whats best for the state is what will keep governments stable and in power. The mindset of the government officials making these decisions seems like the frame of mind someone unfortunate enough to be inflicted with Paranoid Schizophrenia would have. This raises the question of how to we prevent paranoid people from getting into government roles?

this is quite different

[nimbius]

than the NSA scandal currently sweeping the states. You see, India is under constant threat of terror attacks from surrounding nations and rogue militants that hate its freedom. in order to combat them india needs a system like this, and despite its concerning appearance poses no threat to law abiding citizens. Im sure if you ask anyone involved they can confirm it has already stopped numerous terror attacks.

the United states however...is under constant....hm....

The difference is we told a newspaper. so thats different. also, if you took the time to read the article, this surveillance system is in India, and not in America. so that too is a different thing that makes this not the same. Also we dont call it the NSA.

Stop calling it snooping

[Anonymous Coward]

"Snooping" is when your harmless 80-year-old neighbor peers out between the blinds to see who you've invited over to visit. The term "snooping" implies harmlessness, whereas government (and its fundamental tool of physical force) is anything but harmless.

What government does is called spying, because government is a coercive authority, not an equal.

This is similar to how the media constantly uses the term "cracking down" to describe oppression. The term "cracking down" not only implies good intentions, but necessity -- yet the victims of the "crackdown" tell a completely different story, every single time.