This evening in the Rajya Sabha, the Leader of the Opposition Mr. Arun Jaitley started a short duration discussion on the politically motivated telephone tapping scandal and the 2G spectrum auction related telephone tapping by the IT department. Other than cornering the government for big-brothering the system, Mr. Jaitley, an eminent lawyer also brought the usual civil liberties angle to the debate. But deviating from the expected 'sanctity of personal privacy' rhetoric, he hinted at an idea that certain technologies could make the constitutional protections irrelevant:
"... And you are now going in for a technology which has a complete mismatch to this entire constitutional scheme and guarantee. And the mismatch is, well I have got a technology which does not respect India's Constitution, which defies the entire constitutional protection that I have, and that technology, when it drives around the country is in a position to bug everybody else's telephone."
- Mr. Arun Jaitley, MP Rajya Sabha
I am sure the lawmakers can legislate on almost any subject, so if a technology gets out of hand they will find a way to limit and prohibit its usage, just as they do with Nuclear Energy. But what if a new technology comes along that can really make it a nightmare for anyone to regulate its usage - a suicide bomber scenario in technology regulation. At that point, the futility of the laws will be clear for all to see.
Now I don't know if Mr. Jaitley has seen The Dark Knight but the "too much power for anyone to have" premise that he alluded to is also seen in that film's climax. The movie version is a fictional cellphone sonar technology that can basically locate anyone in Gotham city. Batman's ally Lucius Fox raises similar apprehensions as Mr. Jaitley does, although for more philosophical and less political reasons. But in the movie as long as the good guy uses it, its all cool. So the question is if we see the Government of India as the good guy.
Links:
Rajya Sabha Proceedings, 29th April 2010 (Read from Pg 12 onwards): http://164.100.47.5/newdebate/219/29042010/16.00pmTo17.00pm.pdf
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article417847.ece?homepage=true
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Lobbyists-phone-tap-revives-2G-scam-row/articleshow/5870446.cms
http://www.wired.com/gadgets/miscellaneous/news/2008/07/bat_gadgets
2 comments:
well.. as long as govt does it for a gud purpose, nthng wrong abt it., but the problem is that, it gives them a chance to go for it always and justifyin everything they do that it is for nation's good.. ;)
Surveillance by the state is essential for its sustenance, that is understood. But the difference to be recognized is that sustenance of the state is not the same as the sustenance of the govt. In a democracy the state constitutes not only the govt but any role created & recognized by the state i.e the opposition too is a part of the state. So issues like phone tapping only surface when the govt treats the opposition as a non-state actor..say by eavesdropping on them - basically a breach of privilege issue. But that's how we like to play our games..when we think we have some advantage that the opponent does not.
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