A light tap

After the recent revelations about the extent of electronic surveillance in India,there is some indication that the government will follow more stringent guidelines for phone-tapping. The cabinet committee set up to look into questions of interception has come up with a list of norms and for starters,it has recommended that the Central Board of Direct Taxes be knocked off the list of those allowed to listen in.

Eavesdropping on private conversations for the public good is allowed in India,as an enlightened compromise between the state and citizen,but we have seen how this compact can be endangered by indiscriminate taps,and leaks of even idle chatter with no bearing on law enforcement. These powers are meant to be exercised in the rarest cases,in cases of public emergency or in the interests of national security. In 1997,the Supreme Court specified the five guiding principles that warranted tapping in the interests of national sovereignty and integrity,state security,friendly relations with foreign states,public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of an offence. For all the scare talk about government agencies and even private parties cheerfully intercepting our phone conversations with no repercussions,there is an elaborate and demanding official procedure to allow taps.

But this tightening of norms is welcome as technology gets increasingly sophisticated,there are more ways in which national security and financial laws can be breached. Recently,theres been a debate on raising the penalty for misusing these powers to Rs 10 lakh rather than the paltry Rs 500 laid down in the Indian Telegraph Act,1885. We must constantly re-evaluate the rules,and ensure that surveillance powers created by a colonial regime are not unthinkingly retained in administering a democracy. There must be ways to balance that necessary intrusion with the need to protect our civil liberties. The rules must be crystal-clear,and any violation that compromises individual privacy must be taken very,very seriously. After all,by ceding these sweeping powers to the state,we place enormous trust in it.