Arshad Shaikh describes how the Israeli spyware decimates the innate right to privacy and why its unbridled deployment is a threat to our personal liberty
On July 18, news about names of people who were allegedly targeted by an Israeli spyware called Pegasus started appearing simultaneously all over the world. As the list contained names of heads of states, leaders of opposition, billionaires (the rich and famous) and hundreds of prominent journalists, and social activists who were allegedly snooped upon, the revelations created a political storm in many countries and reignited a global debate on spying and mass surveillance by governments on their citizens. At the heart of the issue lay the question about the brazen manner in which the right to privacy, right to dignity and the right to liberty was being compromised by authoritarian governments across the world that greatly undermined democracy and pitted the rulers against the ruled.
What exactly is Pegasus, how does it operate, what dangers does it pose to our fundamental rights and how should we view this phenomenon of spying upon ordinary citizens? These are some of the questions that must be answered and understood in order to protect some of our most cherished values lest they become a thing of the past. If we do not confront and challenge this elephant in the room, we will then be on our way to become citizens of a dystopian world crushed under the tyranny of totalitarian repressive regimes that control the lives of people through surveillance and excessive curbs on personal liberties.
A DANGEROUS SPYWARE
Spyware is loosely defined as malicious software designed to enter your computer (mobile) device, gather data about you, and forward it to a third-party without your consent. Pegasus is a spyware developed and marketed by the Israeli company NSO Group. It has capabilities like text chat reading, call tracking, collecting passwords, location tracking, microphone and camera control and even harvesting information from various apps installed in your mobile phone be it an iphone or android.
Pegasus is made in a country (Israel) that many consider an apartheid state, a shameless practitioner of state terrorism and one, which has one of the worst human rights record. It is therefore quite paradoxical and frankly tragic when the makers of Pegasus (the NSO Group) claim that they sell their spyware only to those governments that have a good record of respecting human rights and they do so only after the deal has been vetted by the Israeli government.
NSO also claims that in addition to this due diligence, they emphasise through specific clauses in the contract with their clients (many of whom are some of the most repressive regimes in the world) that they will not use Pegasus against ordinary citizens but only deploy it to snoop on criminals and suspected terrorists. However, the NSO Group does accept that once they sell their spyware, they have no control on whom it is being used against.
THE PEGASUS PROJECT 2021
Human rights activists always had the premonition that they were being spied upon through their mobile phones after the Global Surveillance Disclosures 2013 (exposed by Edward Snowden through The Washington Post and The Guardian). In the course of pursuing their intuition, Amnesty International and Forbidden Stories (a Paris based media NGO) got a list of 50,000 phones numbers (leaked by unnamed sources) that were allegedly infected by Pegasus.
Amnesty and Forbidden Stories forged an alliance of 17 media organisations who would investigate the hacking of these phone numbers via a collaborative effort termed “the Pegasus Project 2021”. Some of the prominent players who were part of the project include Le Monde, The Guardian, Aristegui Noticias, The Washington Post, Die Zeit, Suddeutsche Zeitung, Knack, RadioFrance, Proceso, Le Soir, Haaretz, OCCRP, Daraj, The Wire and Direkt. As Siddharth Varadarajan explains in his article “Revealed: How The Wire and Its Partners Cracked the Pegasus Project and What It Means for India” (The Wire dated 30 July) – “The task facing us as reporters was this: identify as many of the 50,000 numbers on the database as we could, and then investigate the ‘why’ and ‘whodunit’ part of the story. And do this against a ticking clock, since every inch of progress made would increase the risk of a leak.”
CREATING A POLITICAL STORM
As revealed by the investigation carried under the aegis of the Pegasus Project 2021, some of the names whose phones were allegedly infected with Pegasus include Rahul Gandhi, Prashant Kishor, Umar Khalid, Siddarth Varadarajan, MK Venu, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Anirban Bhattacharya, Banjyotsna Lahiri, Hany Babu MT, Rona Wilson, Vernon Gonsalves, Anand Teltumbde, Shoma Sen, Gautam Navlakha and Arun Ferreira.
A cursory glance at this list will reveal that none of the names has anything to do with terrorism and crime (although some have been incarcerated under draconian laws and accused of sedition and violence). The Opposition knows that Pegasus (military grade) can be sold only to governments or state agencies. It is trying to pin down the government with just one question: Did the Government of India (GoI) buy Pegasus and use it? The Opposition has stalled proceedings in Parliament until the government agrees to a discussion on the issue of Pegasus.
The GoI says that the whole issue has been blown out of proportion; it is a non-issue and whatever it has done, it has done without breaking any law of the country. By trying to refuse to discuss it on the floor of the House, the government is giving credence to the allegations being levelled against it; namely that it deployed Pegasus to snoop on its own citizens. Even if the GoI is given the benefit of doubt and it is assumed that some foreign power or agency has snooped in India; the GoI is still in the dock as it has then failed in protecting the privacy of its citizens and compromised the nation’s safety and security. Hence, the demand for an enquiry into the whole Pegasus affair by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) or through the Supreme Court appears legitimate and obvious.
THE BROADER ISSUES
Pegasus has once again brought to the fore the issue of the right to privacy, dignity and liberty. Are these rights sacrosanct, uncompromisable and absolute? Or can the state crush these rights under the pretext of the ‘social contract’ and the protection of citizens by the threats of terror and violence?
There is an explicit command in the Qur’ān (Surah Al Hujurat Ayat # 12) that commands the believers to desist from spying. Islamic scholars say that the command implies that we should not grope after the secrets of the people, avoid searching for their defects and weaknesses, and desist from prying into their conditions and affairs.
This prohibition also includes reading other people’s private letters, listening secretly to private conversation, peeping into the neighbour’s house and trying to get information in different ways about the domestic life or private affairs of others. This is grave immorality, which causes serious mischief in society.
This prohibition of spying is also applicable to the Islamic government. It should not establish a system of spying to inquire too curiously into the people’s secret evils and then punish them, but it should use force only against those evils, which are manifested openly. As for the hidden evils, spying is not the way to reform them but it is education, preaching and counselling, collective training of the people and trying to create a pure and clean social environment. We cannot afford to become a police state. We have to resist all attempts and forces that are weakening the pillars of our democratic-setup. History will not be kind to us if we don’t.