In order to discuss possible legal frameworks to enable surveillance of
voice and data communications in India, the Cellular Operators'
Association of India (COAI) along with the Centre for Internet and
Society (CIS) will hold seven roundtable meetings across the country in
the coming weeks on privacy and
surveillance issues.
The
recommendations and dialogues from each of these roundtables will be
compiled and submitted to the relevant ministries of the government, a
statement issued by COAI said on Friday.
The roundtable meetings will take place in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai and twice in New Delhi.
These
roundtables are closed-door meetings involving multiple stakeholders
such as the industry leaders, policy makers, and experts from the legal
fraternity and civil society.
"In the era of freedom, when data
connectivity via the Internet, has emerged as one of the most powerful
tools for communications, infringement of customer privacy by government
agencies through telecom networks have forced the industry to initiate
discussions on the international best practices on communications
privacy and surveillance, and the relevant Indian jurisprudence... COAI,
with the Centre for Internet and Society has taken this initiative by
bringing the relevant stakeholders on a common platform to discuss the
matter to arrive at an acceptable conclusion," COAI Director General
Rajan S Mathews said.
According to Bhairav Acharya, who advises
the CIS: "Legal reform is necessary to identify the limits of
permissible surveillance, the protection of privacy, the procedure of
intercepting communications, the expectations of service providers, and
freedom of all Indians. The law must keep up with technological
advancements to create a balanced, proportionate and fair mechanism to
enable and regulate surveillance. This will serve India's national
interest."
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