Soon after the revelations of the media group of the use of surveillance software Pegasus sold by an Israeli firm NSO in 48 countries, there is focus on surveillance as an idea and surveillance technology.

In India, there is legal framework for surveillance allowed under the Indian Telegraph Act, Indian Telegraph Rules, the IT Act. However, the present law is not adequate to cover the new ways of spying on people, whether for national security or otherwise.

Besides, the current surveillance practices violate the fundamental right to privacy. There should be legislative reform to make surveillance transparent and accountable. This applies both to the public and private sector.

Apart from NSO Group and its Pegasus software, there are other surveillance tools. Celebrite, another Israel-based company, enables digital intelligence. One of its products is UFED or Universal Forensic Extraction Device. Celebrite does not sell to countries sanctioned by the US, the UK or Israel governments. Paragon is another Israel-based firm which offers hack software for WhatsApp and Signal.

Indian firms such as Shoghi Communications from HP and Clear Trail from Noida operate in this field. Shoghi designs counterintelligence strategies for its clients. ClearTrail provides a Trojan software called Astra to corrupt the device.