It146;s not the technology, stupid

In the aftermath of the terror strikes around the country, technology appears to be emerging as the media8217;s new...

In the aftermath of the terror strikes around the country, technology appears to be emerging as the media8217;s new whipping boy. Everyone seems to be talking about how much more deadly terrorists are today, armed as are with unimpeded access to the internet 8212; about how our investigative agencies are struggling to come to terms with having to deal with technology savvy terrorists, and as a result, why they are making absolutely no headway in finding out who was responsible.

The enforcement agencies8217; reaction to their own ineptitude is the same as it has always been 8212; to blindly lash out with a characteristically heavy hand on cyber cafes. News reports from around the country have the police going on record blaming ISPs for tardy response times while still others bemoan the ills of wi-fi technologies that are making it impossible to identify users. There is no doubt that technology has contributed to the success of the recent terror strikes 8212; it is inconceivable that anyone could have coordinated an attack that was so precisely timed without taking advantage of the various easy communication tools that technology offers today. But a ham-handed response to the problem of the techno-savvy terrorist is hardly likely to provide a solution. Imposing draconian regulations on cybercafeacute;s 8212; requiring them to insist on photo identification, prohibit the use of removeable drives and maintain logs of every person entering and leaving the facilities 8212; is like using a sledgehammer to kill a fly 8212; not necessarily effective but likely to cause considerable collateral damage. Anywhere else, such ex post factu activity would have been derided as a feeble attempt to bolt the stable door after the horse had run away, but we, in India, have learnt to take these wildly inappropriate and over-the-top reactions in our stride.

While technology provides terrorists with new opportunities 8212; new methods of communication, more anonymity and the ability to plan with a level of coordination impossible so far, what must not be forgotten, however, is that our enforcement agencies have access to the same technologies 8212; in most cases, given the sweeping powers investigative agencies are imbued with, in significantly greater measure. The unique feature of our Indian jurisprudence is the backdoors we have hardwired into our laws that were designed specifically to allow the government agencies to override civil liberties in the interests of national security. Backdoors that enforcement agencies around the world would give anything to possess.

The fact that even with these legal tools, our enforcement agencies are unable to come up with a coherent strategy to address technology crime points to an alarming apathy towards technology that results in half-baked, poorly thought-through and hopelessly ineffective measures at controlling crime.

Take for instance the whole furore over Blackberry encryption. Blackberry devices transmit email messages over the cloud and are particularly susceptible to interception. It is imperative that all data communication to or from a Blackberry is encrypted 8212; and that is what RIM does 8212; ensures that all messages being sent from a Blackberry device are encrypted as they are transmitted to the servers in Canada before they are despatched to the final recipient.

The government of India doesn8217;t like this because, should they need to, they would be unable to decipher Blackberry messages being exchanged between terrorists who use Blackberries. But from a technology perspective, this is no more or less dangerous than an SMS message exchanged using a cheap pre-paid mobile connection that could be purchased on any street corner with next to nothing by way of identification.

And Blackberries are not the only technologies that offer high levels of encryption. Skype, the popular VoIP solution uses high levels of encryption to convert voice into data and then transmit that data over the internet to any other computer or telephone in the world. No one seems to have a problem with Skype, even though the anonymity offered by Skype is significantly greater. Wi-fi enabled mobile phones offer similar challenges. If a determined terrorist really wanted to evade detection, technology today offers him several alternatives. Anonymising software, encryption tools or even just an easily acquired knowledge of the way the internet works is all one needs to conceal one8217;s tracks.

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However, the Indian government has, at its disposal, the full power of the law. It can put in place technologies that could allow it to monitor the very gateways through which data enters and leaves the country in a manner that is unobtrusive and therefore less personally intrusive into the rights of the citizens. Theoretically, once they do that there is no need to be beholden to ISPs or cybercafeacute;s for their co-operation. Should the government choose to wisely utilise these powers, terrorists, even technologically savvy ones, will find it harder to hide. The challenge is to get law enforcement agencies to focus on the bigger solution rather than flail ineffectively and after the fact at incidents whenever they arise.

The writer is a partner at Trilegal