The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought a response from the Centre, the Delhi Police Commissioner and Google India, among others, upon a plea seeking restraint on illegal sale and purchase of mobile phone hacking and spying software and applications.
Justice V. Kameswar Rao issued notice in the plea by a practising lawyer highlighting the potential threat to privacy the illegal mobile spyware or software or applications pose to the mobile users.
Upon being queried whether the government is regulating or controlling activities pertaining to mobile hacking or spying, Advocate Biji Rajesh, representing the Centre, informed the Court that upon a specific complaint raised in this regard, action is taken; however, in respect of the general regulation and control, she prayed for time to seek instructions.
The matter is listed for completion of pleadings before Joint Registrar on March 9, 2022.
At the outset, spyware are tools that allow a third person to secretly monitor and record information about the activity of a user. Moved by Advocate Dimple Vivek, the plea points out that phone spyware are especially intrusive and dangerous as it runs in stealth mode without any notification and can let a third party ‘monitor many things one does on smartphone, including photos and videos takes, websites visited, text messages sent and received, call history, and location’.
It further points out that to access the activity, the person monitoring the device could sign in to a website or an accompanying application such as OneSpy or Chyldmonitor to gain complete control over the targeted individuals device and thereby, attack on the privacy of the said individual.
“This goes without saying that the very existence and use of the software/app is not only dangerous but is threatening to every individual including threat to the nation, as has enormous capacity of being misused grossly, including by terrorists, extremists etc,” reads the plea.
In light of the above, the plea seeks initiation of appropriate steps to restrict the sale, operation, use and transfer of any illegal spyware, malware or other software and applications, used for the purpose of mobile hacking, without specific license or permission; and formulation of guidelines to monitor misuse of technology. In addition, the plea prays for imposition of stringent penalty on Google India for permitting promotion of trade in and sale of such illegal spyware and software.
Referring to the decision of the Apex Court in the landmark K.S. Puttaswamy case wherein right to privacy was recognized as sacrosanct to human existence and inalienable to human dignity and autonomy, the plea states that right to privacy is directly infringed in cases of surveillance or spying being done upon an individual. The plea further states that the State is under an obligation to take necessary actions to protect the interests and fundamental rights of the citizen, particularly when there exists the risk that such an attack poses to cause in an uncontrolled manner.