By Tarunkumar Singhal, Raman Jokhakar, Chartered Accountants
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Despite vast surveillance operations, governments will not be able to detect every suspicious interaction that takes place on phone and internet network. By using encryption software that is readily available off the shelf, citizens can make it very difficult for government agencies to snoop in on their phone conversations or even messages exchanged over the internet.
So, electronic surveillance programmes, such as the US government’s PRISM — through which it clandestinely keeps a tab on people around the world by gathering data from several corporations —and India’s Central Monitoring System, can do very little if users are determined to go Concerns about governments invading into the privacy of its citizens have come to the fore after classified documents about the PRISM programme were leaked to the media by Edward Snowden, a former American intelligence officer and technical contractor.
The leaked documents revealed that several large technology companies, including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook and Apple, participated in the programme and gave US authorities access to their data. In India, the government began rolling out its Central Monitoring System in April. The system gives the National Investigation Agency, as well as other investigating authorities, access to everything that happens over India’s telecommunications networks, including phone calls, text messages and social media conversations. But such indepth surveillance programmes could end up achieving very little of what they were set up for in the first place. They could also be misused.
Experts have pointed out that users can employ encryption software like TrueCrypt to hide data from everyone other than the intended recipient. Also, IP addresses, which give away the computer’s or mobile device’s location, can be hidden using Tor, a free software that redirects internet traffic through thousands of proxy computers before it reaches its final destination. Other options include www.encryptfiles.net, where users can encrypt files that they send over email, and free and easily accessible tools such as Steganos Lock-Note, Gpg4win and SendInc.
(Source: The Economic Times dated 13-06-2013)
