JOIN USThe Supreme Court on Thursday sought response from the Centre, the CBI and others on a PIL, questioning unauthorised use of snooping software made available by a US-based company on internet to get confidential call detail records of a subscriber in violation of laws.
A three-judge bench presided over by Justice J S Khehar issued notice the Union Home Ministry and Director General Military Intelligence among others, acting on a PIL-filed by computer expert Prashant Pandey.
Senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Indira Jaising and Vivek Tankha, representing the petitioner, contended that the software being provided by US-based firm ‘Spundan - The IT Pulse’, having its registered office at Indore was deterimental to national security.
They claimed that confidential call records could be accessed by using the software after paying Rs 5,000 was being used by the criminals, bookies, tele-marketing companies, apart from Madhya Pradesh police in furtherance of their illegal activities.
The bench, which initially felt many apps were available in the market to identify callers, agreed to look into the petition after the counsel submitted that the said software posed serious security threat, besides violating the Telegraph Act and the right to privacy of subscribers.
The petition was filed by advocate Vaibhav Srivastava on behalf of Pandey, who claimed himself to be the whistle blower of professional colleges admission scam in Madhya Pradesh.
According to the PIL, a monthly amount of Rs 5,000 was being paid by around 4,000 police officers of Madhya Pradesh to obtain the information illegally without following standard procedure as established under the law.
Any information with record to call details could be accessed only after taking permission by no less than Union home secretary in case of central government agencies and state home secretary for state police, the petitioner claimed.
The petitioner also sought thorough investigation to identify and prosecute IT companies and their associates indulging in unauthorisedly leaking of confidential subscriber data and telecommunication details.