COAI to hold round-table on net surveillance

The Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) along with the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) will hold seven roundtable meetings across the country in the coming weeks to discuss possible legal frameworks to enable surveillance of voice and data communications in India.

The roundtables are intended to arrive at a legal framework that ensures online privacy is not compromised amid increasing government surveillance of internet and telephone.

The telecom industry body COAI is also holding meetings with multiple stakeholders like industry leaders, policy makers, experts from legal fraternity, civil society, etc on "better legal models for such surveillance in India".

The deliberations at the roundtables and the recommendations will be compiled and submitted to the relevant ministries of the Government of India, COAI director general Rajan S Mathews stated, adding that data connectivity via the internet has emerged as one of the most powerful tools for communications in the era of freedom.

"Infringement of customer privacy by government agencies through telecom networks have forced the industry to initiate discussions on the global best practices on communications privacy and surveillance and relevant Indian jurisprudence," he added.

"India's antiquated communications surveillance laws do not serve the best interests of law enforcement agencies, service providers or the general public," CIS Legal Advisor Bhairav Acharya said.

He said laws have to be reformed to identify the limits of permissible surveillance, protection of privacy, procedure of intercepting communications, expectation of service providers and freedom for all.

The law must keep up with technological advancements to create a balanced, proportionate and fair mechanism to enable and regulate surveillance. This will serve India's national interest, Acharya said.