Pegasus remained shrouded in mystery until WhatsApp filed a complaint against it in a California court in 2019. WhatsApp alleged that the Pegasus targeted the video calling feature. It hijacked smartphones running on iOS, Blackberry and the Android Operating System. Through its self-destruct mode, it washed away its footprints, though not imperceptibly in all cases.
Investigations carried out by 17 media organisations, led by Forbidden Stories and sponsored by Amnesty International, revealed that the NSO (Pegasus) software was implanted into the phones of individuals targeted by governments of Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Mexico, Morocco, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Hungary, India, the United Arab Emirates and others.
The NSO Group that manufactures Pegasus spyware claims that it only sells the hacking software to “vetted” governments and government agencies. However, an international media consortium reported that over 300 verified mobile phone numbers, including those of two ministers, over 40 journalists, three opposition leaders, besides scores of businesspersons and activists, in India had been spied on. Congress leader Shashi Tharoor demanded a judicial probe to verify whether or not government money had been misused.
The Pegasus software can be installed on a mobile phone by sending a simple WhatsApp message to it. It gets installed automatically and gains complete control over the host’s phone without the host even opening the infected message. Thereafter, all data stored on the host’s phone, all calls, all location data and all images visible to the phone camera are relayed to the snooper.
Pegasus spyware has the capability to self-destruct, without leaving any trace. Currently, allegations of misuse of the Pegasus spyware are roiling governments the world over. However, NSO Group, the developers of Pegasus, has piously claimed that the NSO Group provides only “authorised Governments with technology that helps them combat terror and crime.” Further, the NSO Group has highlighted excerpts from its contracts with buyers that require customers to use Pegasus only for criminal and national security investigations. Yet, a considerable mass of evidence contradicts NSO Group’s claims of innocence.
Law-books teem with assurances about freedom of thought, speech, expression and privacy. There are golden words of the constitution about fundamental rights. These rights are protected in international conventions also. Some countries have even passed data protection rights. Political espionage through the Pegasus has made the rights enshrined in laws meaningless.
A show on Al-Jazeera channel claimed that the Israeli Government had used Pegasus spyware to snoop on friends and foes alike. Pegasus spyware shot into the limelight after the assassination of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey, in 2018. Khashoggi used to make frequent calls to his friend Abdul Aziz. These calls were intercepted by Saudi Arabia through Pegasus bought from Israel. Citizen Labs of Canada confirmed the presence of Pegasus spyware on Omar Abdul Aziz’s mobile phone. Abdul Aziz filed a lawsuit against the NSO Group in Israel. Several similar cases have been filed in Israeli courts on the basis of documents that show that the NSO Group had engaged in illegal spying activities for its clients.
In 2019, WhatsApp informed 17 people of the presence of spyware on their mobile phones. The issue of unauthorised surveillance of citizens using Pegasus spyware was taken up in Parliament by DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran. Replying to Maran, minister of state GK Reddy neither confirmed nor denied that the Government had purchased Pegasus, or whether Pegasus was used to spy on Indian citizens. Rather, the Government justified surveillance of Indian citizens by quoting Section 69 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and Section 5 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885.
The list of Indian targets includes at least 40 journalists, 14 politicians or associated persons, 41 activists, lawyers and academicians, some high-ranking Central Bureau of Investigation officials, some prominent businessmen, one Election Commissioner, and Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi.
Section 69 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and Section 5 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 authorise the Indian government to intercept communication by telephone and internet. But they have a number of in-built safeguards. Under the Telegraph Act the Government can intercept calls only after authorisation by a Joint Secretary level officer and that too in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign states or public order, or for preventing incitement to the commission of an offence, which are the restrictions imposed on free speech under Article 19(2) of the Constitution.
Above all, journalists are exempt from interception. The reason for subjecting a person to surveillance has to be recorded in writing. The ambit of interception under Section 69 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 is wider but is subject to the right to privacy.
Pegasus was a winged horse of Greek mythology, It carried Zeus’s thunderbolts and helped the hero Bellerophon slay the dreaded monster Chimera. In the second century, astronomer Ptolemy eponymously named Pegasus a constellation.
Law-books teem with assurances about freedom of thought, speech, expression and privacy. There are golden words of the constitution about fundamental rights. These rights are protected in international conventions also. Some countries have even passed data protection rights. Political espionage through the Pegasus has made the rights enshrined in laws meaningless.
Indian government denies having hacked phones. Should it be proved that the Indian government used the Pegasus software to hack into the phones of its citizens, without any reasonable cause, it would be a watershed moment. Sections 43 and 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 criminalise hacking.
India has also used the software against Pakistani targets. Does espionage justify hacking? And perhaps more crucial domestic targets, can the tools of such espionage be used against domestic political opponents? More crucially, can such use be stopped?
Does the author remember that Francis Gary Power flew his U2 plane from Pakistan to spy on Russia. The plane was shot down by Russia.