Over 5,000 phones being tapped daily

[RAM]

Even as the 2G scam media tapes are doing the rounds, there are 5,000-6,000 telephones being tapped on an average across the country by the Central investigation and intelligence agencies on a daily basis, sources said.

The sources feel that with the Adarsh scam, the Commonwealth Games scandal, and the 2G spectrum scam breaking out, the interception or tapping of phones and e-mail could reach higher levels, and many more details indicating the involvement of more persons in the scams could tumble out as different investigation agencies go ahead with probes.

"Of these, a majority relate to terror networks, and 10-12 per cent pertains to economic offences, including those involved in hawala dealings," the sources said.
Intelligence and security agencies often keep tabs on the activities of terrorist groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir as well the northeast, and the Naxal groups operating in seven States.

Approval
In India, telephone tapping has to be approved by a designated authority. The Central or State government is empowered to order interception of messages as per Section 5 of the Indian Telegraphic Act, 1885. There is also a provision for a review committee to supervise the order.



The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, 2000, in general prohibits the interception of communications by a third party, with exceptions related to government agencies.

For the Central intelligence and investigation agencies, the designated authority is the Union Home Secretary, while for the States it is the State Home Secretary. The permission for interception or tapping is given for an initial period of 60 days and subsequently comes up for renewal before the designated authority. There are nearly 690 million mobile and landline telephone subscribers in India.



http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article905944.ece

 

[Ray]

Good show!

Are they to uncover spies or are they for political purpose?

And they did not know of the shenanigan of Raja, Kalmadi or even Yedu and Jagan Reddy?

I am sure these chaps have their houses and electronic gadgets swept of bugs every hour!

Prima facie, a necessity, but then also scary for the average person that he is being subjected to a Big Brother syndrome!

 

[arya]

can you tell me how my girlfriend know whom i am talking

how

 

[Ray]

Well she could, if you do it by semaphore since no one else does it like that! :happy_2:

 

[SHASH2K2]

Over 1 lakh phones are tapped every year​

NEW DELHI: Some startling figures tumbled out on rampant phone tapping in the country when telecom service provider Reliance Communications told the Supreme Court on Monday that the authorities had asked it to tap 1.51 lakh phone numbers in a five-year span between 2006 and 2010.

This works out to an average of over 30,000 telephone interceptions every year by a single service provider on the orders of various law enforcing agencies. Or, over 82 telephones were intercepted every day by a single service provider.

Reliance is the second-largest service provider with a subscriber base of 12.57 crore as in 2010. The biggest service provider, Bharti Airtel, had 15.25 crore subscribers in 2010, while Vodafone's subscriber base was just a shade lower than Reliance's at 12.43 crore. State-owned BSNL came fourth with 8.67 crore subscribers.

If Reliance's ratio of phones tapped to the number of its subscribers were to be taken as representative and applied to other service providers, it is a fair assumption that government agencies were tapping more than one lakh phones every year.

In Delhi alone, Reliance tapped a total of 3,588 phones in 2005 when the teledensity was low compared to today. It also included Amar Singh's number which was put under surveillance — allegedly on a forged letter from Delhi Police.

Four days back, a bench of Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly had expressed concern over the large number of interceptions being ordered by the agencies and the "grave danger" this posed to the citizen's right to privacy.

In an affidavit tendered by senior advocate Ram Jethmalani before the bench, Reliance Communications said: "The total number of interceptions in 2005 in respect of Delhi Service Area were 3,588. There were about 1.51 lakh number of cases for monitoring/interception during the period 2006-10 in all India."

Responding to the court's observation that no service provider worth its salt would intercept a phone based on a purported communication full of grammatical and spelling mistakes, Reliance said most of the genuine interception orders were identical to the now known forged letter as far as spelling and grammatical mistakes were concerned. It cited a genuine interception order of February 1, 2011, received from the Delhi Police to make its point.

After detailing the precautions it had taken, including writing to the authorities to authenticate the letter asking for interception of Amar Singh's phone, Reliance said it received no response, yet it was duty bound under a bona fide perception of the letter to continue interception for 15 days.

"A bare perusal of various letters sent by Ranjit Narayan (then Joint Commissioner of Delhi Police) and R Narayanswami (then Delhi home secretary) show that the letters dated October 22, 2005 and November 9, 2005 (both purportedly forged ones) were similar to other letters received from them," Reliance said while claiming its innocence in the interception controversy.

It said request for surveillance of a telephone from the law enforcement agencies could not be postponed based on spelling mistakes in the communication from agencies as it called for immediate action "for safety of general public at large and in the interest of the nation." It added: "Postponing compliance on the ground of inconsequential mistakes like spelling errors may conceivably lead to a serious terrorist attack and the blame may fall on us."

"The service providers are also required to provide assistance to law enforcement agencies as per the licence condition. Any violation of it can lead to a penalty of Rs 50 crore," Reliance said.

It said service providers do not keep a record of conversations taped from a phone under surveillance. Reliance Communication said it did not have the technology to record the conversations and that there was no law mandating the service provider to record the conversations and submit it to the law enforcement agencies.

Read more: Over 1 lakh phones are tapped every year - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ry-year/articleshow/7498154.cms#ixzz1E0QhvkVt

 

[SHASH2K2]

BJP seeks clarification from UPA govt on phone tapping
​

KOLKATA: BJP on Tuesday sought a clarification from the UPA government at the Centre on alleged tapping of over one lakh telephones across the country, describing it as a "cause of grave concern".

Stating that this amounted to misuse of power, opposition leader in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said "The government has to confirm that tapping is being done on consideration of security and also state how many phones are being tapped".

"Today on the basis of a case in the Supreme Court, media reports said that one lakh phones are being tapped in the country", he told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting of National office-bearers of the party.

"It is a cause of grave concern...the country's law states that tapping can be done in extreme cases like security considerations or in case of a serious crime", Jaitley said.

Claiming that the alleged number of tapped phones was higher than even in police states, Jaitley sought an authoritative clarification from the central government on the issue.

"The figure is so large that it is frightening and phones are tapped simultaneously by the Centre and the states. We would like to know the exact number of phones being tapped and the ground on which they are being tapped", he said.

Pointing out that misuse of power was taking place, Jaitley said "for consequences of what is being done, it is important that the government comes out with a clarification".

BJP leader L K Advani, party president Nitin Gadkari, Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, Chhattishgarh chief minister Raman Singh and Jaitley are here for attending the meet.


Read more: BJP seeks clarification from UPA govt on phone tapping - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...tapping/articleshow/7500114.cms#ixzz1E0Ylg9BN

 

[Ray]

Thank Heavens, my telephone half the time does not work!

And I rarely use the Mobile!

 

[Yusuf]

Sir you don't have to worry about anything unless Gen Kapoor is a friend of yours and calls you regularly.

The tapping I am sure is for political purpose and also probably used by agencies to track big money.

For national security ? I don't think so. IB, is used for spying on opposition political parties. What it does not national security is a big question.

 

[SHASH2K2]

If tapping is for tracking corrupt and for national security its a very good tool but many times its being misused to do spying against your political opponents and settle political goals. case of amar singh and spying against opposition leaders during nuclear deal voting is glaring example. one need to ensure that phone tapping are not misused.

 

[SHASH2K2]

Amar Singh's phone tapped on official directions: Reliance Infocomm







NEW DELHI: Reliance Infocomm on Monday told the Supreme Court that whatever wiretap it had carried out on Rajya Sabha member and former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh's telephone was done strictly on the directions of Delhi Police.

The court was told that Amar Singh's telephone tapping was done in a bona fide manner.

The 21-page affidavit of Col. (Retd) AK Sachdeva, a nodal officer with Reliance Communication, said under the prescribed procedures, once the company receives directions from the law enforcement agencies, it is duty-bound to act immediately in public and national interest.

Senior counsel Ram Jethmalani appeared for Reliance Communication.

Referring to adverse observations of the apex court bench of Justice GS Singhvi and Justice Asok Kumar Ganguly in the course of the last hearing, the affidavit said that "when a request for interception is received, the service provider is duty bound to comply with the request immediately and there was no provision/rule under which the service provider could send back the request by pointing out such mistakes since the requests received were of urgent nature and in national interest."

"Postponing compliance (of request by law enforcement agencies) on the grounds of inconsequential mistakes like spelling errors may conceivably lead to a serious terrorist attack and the blame may fall on us," the affidavit said.

"It is impossible for a service provider to devise a practice by which the service provider postpones the interception on the grounds of spelling mistakes, especially in view of the request being for immediate action for safety of general public at large and in the interest of the nation," the affidavit added.

It further said that under the conditions of licence, the service provider was required to provide assistance to law enforcement agencies (LEA), including police, the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Intelligence Bureau and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence.

The affidavit said it was not for the first time that spelling and other inaccuracies were noted in the communications from the Delhi government and Delhi Police. Earlier too in the letters and mails by the authorities for genuine interception, there were both grammatical and spelling mistakes, the affidavit read.

The affidavit said that Reliance Communication does have a technology in its system to record the conversation but there is no provision in the rules for the service provider to record the conversation and submit the same to the LEA.

The affidavit said that in 2005, in Delhi service area, there were 3,588 interceptions and between 2006-2010 there were 1.51 lakh monitoring and interceptions.

The affidavit was filed in the course of the hearing of an application by the Centre For Public Interest Litigation seeking that all tapped conversations of Amar Singh that concern the country's governance should be put in public domain.

In the last hearing, the court had asked Reliance communication why it had tapped Amar Singh's phone when it was obvious that the letter requesting this was fabricated as it had several spelling and grammatical mistakes.

Reliance Communication told the court that it had invested Rs.75,000 crore in the entire network and had 125 million subscribers in the country, thereby making it India's second largest telecom service provider.

Delhi Police and the central government said they wanted to file a rejoinder to the Reliance Infocomm affidavit. The case will come up for hearing March 8.

Read more: Amar Singh's phone tapped on official directions: Reliance Infocomm - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...focomm-/articleshow/7497358.cms#ixzz1E1M1Oe12
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[sayareakd]

in future this will be best way to communicate unless you intercept or shoot it down.

 

[SHASH2K2]

In that case congress led UP government will user this for jasoosi.

 

[Ray]

If the Govt is restrained then they will use this:

 

[p2prada]

Me thinks this is a better option;

 

[SHASH2K2]

Me thinks this is a better option;

Dodo cannot kill a pigeon.

 

[The Messiah]

All of you are naive!

Phones are being tapped for many reasons but the major reason is to blackmail people later and get favours from them.