US data mining: Unacceptable - India

Mangalore Today/NDTV

New Delhi, June 11: India has said that it would be "unacceptable" if it is discovered that Indian laws on privacy have been violated by the surveillance launched on web users worldwide by the US National Security Agency or NSA.

"If it is discovered that Indian laws relating to privacy of information of ordinary Indian citizens have been violated we would find it unacceptable," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin told reporters at a briefing yesterday.

He also said that the government will seek information and details from the US over reports that India was the fifth most-tracked country in the US data mining programme. "Yes, we are concerned and surprised about it," Mr Akbaruddin said and added that India would wait and see how the matter unfolds rather than jump to conclusions.

 

His reaction came following reports that the NSA has been spying on emails and social network activity of web users and listening in on internet calls around the world for nearly six years.

The "disclosures" were made by Edward Snowden, a former agent of the US Central Intelligence Agency or CIA. Mr Snowden has revealed to the Washington Post and the Guardian newspapers that intelligence-gathering agencies of the US have been secretly gathering information from the nation’s largest Internet companies - including Google, Facebook and, most recently, Apple - to spy on private information of users around the world. The programme, codenamed "PRISM", has reportedly been in operation since 2007.

According to UK’s Guardian newspaper, Iran is the country from where the largest amount of intelligence was gathered, followed by Pakistan, Jordan, Egypt and India.

Defending the surveillance, US President Barack Obama has called it a "modest encroachment" on privacy that was necessary to defend the United States from attacks. "You cannot have 100% security with 100% privacy...some sacrifices have to be made," he said.