Indian Legislators Want The Government To Be Able To Intercept Encrypted Messages – Techdirt

from the residents-asked-to-pay-for-man-in-the-middle-attacks-against-them dept

India is still a democracy. Or so it pretends. But its becoming indistinguishable from autocratic regimes, like those found in some of its nearby neighbors, China, Turkey, and Pakistan.

Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has become indistinguishable from dozens of other abusive regimes run by dictators, all while trying to uphold the pretense of democracy. Since Modis election in 2014, the government has endlessly sought ways to stifle dissent and monitor all local internet activity. The Indian government has taken legislative swipes against VPN providers, made third party platforms directly responsible for user-generated content, and leveraged fear-inducing (but poorly defined) terms like terrorism and fake news to propose and pass laws that expand already generous government snooping powers.

Despite its best efforts, the Indian government has been unable to outlaw device and communication encryption. But that hasnt stopped it from trying. If the government cant mandate backdoors, perhaps it can force providers of encrypted communication services to allow the government to BCC itself on communications it cant force out the hands of those providing end-to-end encryption.

The government has proposed a law to bring under a legal framework the interception of over-the-top communication services (OTT), such as WhatsApp and Signal which are encrypted, according to the new draft telecommunications bill uploaded late on Wednesday.

Presumably, this will be justified with assertions about national security and fighting rampant crime and corruption. The ends are a subversion of encrypted communications under the assumption that those who utilize encryption are criminals or subversives who must be spied on to secure the nation and, perhaps most importantly, secure Modis position.

The government will decided whos affected by this, no matter what the final language of the bill says. It is seeking public feedback on the bill, but history indicates the government wont be dissuaded by commenters who think the government should not give itself this much power.

The legislation would not only target text messages, but also allow the government to piggyback on encrypted voice and video calls. This gives it an opportunity to listen in on communications made by people whod rather not create a digital paper trail of text messages.

All the government would need to do is utter the magic words (terrorism, fake news, public safety, misinformation, crime, etc.) and encrypted services would be forced to become open books. Heres the relevant language:

Under section 24 of the draft, the central and state government, or any officer specially authorised in this behalf by the central or a state government can on the occurrence of any public emergency or in the interest of the public safety if it is satisfied that it is necessary or expedient to do so, in the interest of the sovereignty, integrity or security of India, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, or preventing incitement to an offence, for reasons to be recorded in writing, by order direct that any message or class of messages, to or from any person or class of persons received by any telecommunication services shall not be transmitted, or shall be intercepted or detained or disclosed to the officer mentioned in such order.

Governments not the governed have the power to decided what is in the interest of public safety. These two parties rarely see eye-to-eye. But only one of the parties has the power to decrypt communications. The Modi government and legislators who prefer fealty to serving the public are hoping this is what the future holds: a country where encryption no longer matters because the government has the power to insert itself into conversations between citizens. Vague language will permit the intrusion. The occasional recovery of something incriminating will be endlessly touted as justification for the laws existence. And if this means providers of encrypted communications are no longer willing to offer their services in India, it will give the government what it wants, without all the hassle of prosecuting entities that refuse to subject their users to government eavesdropping.

Filed Under: backdoors, encrypted messaging, encryption, india

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Indian Legislators Want The Government To Be Able To Intercept Encrypted Messages - Techdirt