Amid a full-blown political battle over revelations that Opposition leaders, Union Ministers, journalists, and many others were potential targets of snooping by Israeli company NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware, a Parliamentary Committee headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor will hold a meeting on July 28 on the subject of ‘citizens’ data security and privacy.
The committee has called officials of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Home Affairs, and Ministry of Communications to hear their views. “Evidence of the representatives of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of
Home Affairs, and Ministry of Communications (Department of Telecommunications) on the subject ‘Citizens’ data security and privacy”, read the agenda of the meeting. Sources in the panel said the Pegasus phone tapping issue will definitely be raised in the meeting and details will be sought from the Government officials.
This is not the first time the panel has taken up the issue of Israeli spyware. In 2019, after WhatsApp’s vulnerabilities surfaced, the panel heard from the respective departments regarding the issue.
