Government as hacker: Democracy undone

The rules that permit surveillance by the government under the IT Act do not allow hacking. Hacking remains illegal under Section 43 of the IT Act with no exceptions.

Investigative journalists Ronen Bergman and Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times (NYT) have revealed that the cyber-weapon Pegasus was part of a $2 billion defence package the Narendra Modi government purchased from Israel in 2017. A government minister has sought to dismiss it as a motivated conspiracy by calling the highly respected NYT, “supari” media, a colloquial term for contract killing in the Mumbai underworld.

Described as the “largest defence contract” ever signed by Israel, the deal for medium-range surface-to-air missiles, launchers and communications technology was awarded in April 2017 ahead of the first visit by an Indian head of