Politicians, cyber experts wary about poll panel’s tie-up with Google

Political parties across the spectrum have united to voice concern over the Election Commission's proposal to tie up with search engine Google to facilitate voter services ahead of the general elections, scheduled for mid-April. The move has worried cyber-security experts as well.

Reports say the legal cell of the Congress party, which heads the union government, has written to the Chief Election Commissioner raising security concerns over the proposed tie-up with Google.

"It seems to be a very sensitive issue ... it seems to have been done without consulting all stakeholders," says the letter signed by All India Congress Committee (AICC) Secretary K C Mittal, who is in charge of the Congress's legal and human rights department.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, the main opposition at the centre and in many states, has raised similar concerns. "Though we do not doubt the intentions of the Election Commission, the matter could have been first discussed with various stakeholders at an all-party meeting before taking a final decision. It does raise some security concerns," BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said.

The Election Commission's move to use Google's facilities for online voter registration and making available vital details about voter card numbers and polling station locations have also worried security experts.

A group of them has written to the EC voicing concerns about sharing vital data pertaining to Indians with a foreign company. They feel the commission could have used an Indian firm rather than a US company already under a cloud for sharing data with US security agencies, as exposed in the Edward Snowden affair last year.

"It is shocking that in a country like India, which is called world's software superpower, Election Commission has chosen a foreign company like Google, which has colluded with American intelligence agencies like NSA (the National Security Agency) for global cyberspying, to provide electoral registration and facilitation services by providing them the whole database of registered voters in India," said the Indian Infosec Consortium.

''Citizens will have to provide their email addresses and mobile numbers for new voter registrations. That, combined with Google's other technology offerings like email, search, maps, etc, could aid in building profiles of voters which could invade their privacy,'' said Jatin Jain of the consortium.