Nineteen Eighty-Four’, a dystopian social science fiction by GeorgeOrwell depicts the future world. The novel spins around an imaginedfuture where most parts of world are in trap of war, denialism andGovernment surveillance. Ingsoc, the ruling party, controls adystopian country named Oceania by constantly watching everyindividual through a series of tele-screens. Every movement ismonitored. The ruling party claims that this surveillance is necessaryfor the greater good of people and world. Big Brother, the leader ofthe ruling party, never comes directly in the script but his face’sposter with tag line “ Big Brother is watching You” is plastered intele-screens and in displays. This is to remind the people of Oceaniathat they are being watched everywhere and every time. Further theruling party deploys the Thought Police, the secret police of Oceaniato monitor and punish the originality and independent thinking whichare disavowed and disparaged by the Government.
The lexicon “Big brother is watching you” is back again. Surveillancecontroversy and snooping through software named as Pegasus is the most discussed topic in India now. It is reported that a Paris based medianon-profit Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International have exposedthousands of phone numbers across the world which have been targetedby the Pegasus. Currently, it is assumed that a leaked database of50,000 is accessed by Forbidden Stories that have been targeted byPegasus. They have shared all these data with some leading globalmedia organisations such as The Guardian, The Washington Post and The Wire. This hard work investigation is named as Pegasus Project. The Pegasus Project is a collaborative investigation that involves morethan 80 journalists from 17 news organisations in 10 countriescoordinated by Forbidden Stories with the technical support of AmnestyInternational’s Security Lab. It is also reported that manyGovernments in world were using it against people, who could be thepotential threat like terrorists. But ironically, it is alleged thatit has been used against civil society, politicians, journalists,lawyers, activists and ruling Government Ministers.
Pegasus is a malicious software or a spyware programme developed byIsraeli firm NSO Group. It is aimed to help the Governments across theworld to tackle national security and counter terrorist activities.The NSO group claims that only Governments are entitled to purchaseand use the spyware. Individuals and organisations are barred from theservice.
Pegasus has all the potential to hack any phone or can gain access todevice in a covert form. It collects all the information and sends itback to the person using that spyware. It controls phone’s camera,contact list, stored data, microphone and almost everything in phone.In its earlier version, Pegasus was used as Spear Phishing. In thisprocess of malware infection, Pegasus sends a link, and if the targetclicks on the link, the malware allows the surveillance to beinstalled on the target’s phone. The links were in the form of textmessages or emails. The latest version is so powerful that humaninteraction is not needed to install the surveillance in target user’sphone. This is called as Zero Clicks Attack.
It is alleged that the spyware has been used by many authoritariancountries to target human rights activists, lawyers and journalists.The Pegasus Project targets India’s current Government alleging thesame. The ruling Government confronts the allegation by saying this asa fabricated and evidence- less project. However, the AmnestyInternational has stood in its findings.
Amidst all this, a new concern is popped out. That is our privacy. Asof now The Wire has revealed as many as 136 individuals’ names aretargeted by the Pegasus Spyware in India. This snooping is lawfullydone as claimed by the Government. But the laws like the InformationTechnology Act, 2000 and the Telegraph Act, 1885 deal withsurveillance of all electronic communication and interception ofcalls. These two laws can be applied only in conditions like publicemergency or the security of the State and to bring legal frameworkfor electronic surveillance where data can be intercepted. So Pegasuscan be used if the conditions mentioned here are present in India.Further to this new eco systems to protect data and to secure peoplefrom cybercrimes, the National Cyber security Coordination Centre(NCCC), National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal and Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) have been introduced by the Government. WhatsApp claimed that as many as 1,400 users in 20 countries, including many Indian journalists and activists, had been targeted by Pegasus in 2019. Many crucial decisions were taken by the Government related to national security, judgment and on religion since 2019 in India. It is reported that opposition parties in India claim thesedecisions were manipulated or constructed under the force ofsurveillance. In fact, it is also alleged that many State Governmentshad been toppled by snooping through Pegasus. Now the Government has to come forward with a clean image. If the Government is really keen to create a new eco system to secure data and rights of Indians, then it has to prove it. Now the baton moves from protect the individualprivacy to save democracy.
The (mis)use of Pegasus is really surprising and disturbing. Thekernel of truth must come out. Is another Big Brother watching us? We don’t need Orwell’s Big Brother in our real lives.
(Dr Parida is an Assistant Professor in Sociology, Email: abash.parida@gmail.com)