Modi govt trying to invade peoples' privacy by creating social media hub, claims Cong

A tender floated by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to create a "Social Media Communication Hub" has created alarm bells as it would help the government intrude into our privacy in what senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Friday described as hearing "sounds of George Orwwell's 1984."

The 65-page tender is to pick up a company that can provide analytical software and a team of at least 20 professionals to power a real time New Media Command Room. The document says the tool should have the capacity to monitor a range of digital platforms: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, internet news, Instagram and blogs and also "listen" to emails.

How all this can be achieved without violating the laws is a big question mark, said Singhvi, who is also a leading senior advocate who indicated at an AICC press briefing here on Friday that the Congress will take the Modi government to court for hatching such a sinister snooping on the citizens despite the Supreme Court upholding the right to privacy as a fundamental right.

The intent of tender is quite clear as Singhvi said it shows "the Big Brother is planning to watch Indians, monitor what they say on social media. The Government which has been a habitual offender on the question of privacy now wants to know even the intimate personal details."

Other Congress leaders see in the move a government's plan to set up a gigantic surveillance mechanism to gather data for political profiling, targeted electioneering, indoctrination and even control. They feel it is grossly illegal in the light of the Supreme Court's privacy judgement, arguing that the message put out online by an individual in the public domain cannot be used by a third party. They were shocked that the Government even wanted to monitor the e-mails.

The tender notice says the Social Media Analytical software should act as the guiding tool for the Information and Broadcast Ministry "to understand the impact of various social media campaigns conducted on various schemes run by the Government of India."