Shagun Rai, Legal Specialist and Gender Advocate, Erasmus Scholar
Vaasav Mittal, Student, Amity Law School, Noida
ABSTRACT
The order of the court in the case of Manohar Lal Singh starts with the famous quote from George Orwell “If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself” (1984). In our everyday lives, we accept the ‘cookies’ from sites every day to gain access to their content, give access to Google maps about our location to find our way back home and many more be taken as examples, but what matters here is the ‘consent’ with which we give access to the big tech companies. Our personal information is as personal to us as it is general to them. In July 2021, a report made in collaboration with The Wire and Forbidden stories revealed that around the world spyware called The Pegasus was used by government organizations to get access to real-time information on journalists, activists, and leaders from opposition parties’ smartphones remotely.
The paper will primarily focus on the Indian context and the effect it has on the democracy of the country and the fundamental rights of the citizens. The paper focuses on the use of spyware on the two focal points of national security and fundamental rights, furthermore, critiquing the investigation grounds and where it leaves India on the International plane. The paper suggests the need of the hour is to enact stricter and stronger cyber laws in the country.
