Recently, the Telangana (TG) Cyber Security Bureau issued a tender inviting bids for four Cyber Crime Investigation Tools aimed at monitoring online content and extracting data from devices after breaking into them.
On the surface, these tools may appear to be the Telangana state police’s efforts to strengthen their existing cyber-powers. However, the tender copy reveals the extent to which the Telangana government plans to deploy these tools, raising significant concerns about potential privacy violations of individuals and the risk of online mass surveillance, not just of content, but also private messages on social media.
What are the tools, and why are they problematic?
The tender lists the following tools:
- Talkwalker Tool
- Cellebrite Inseyets Tools/Software
- Cyber Forensic Hub Tools/Software
- Innsight Tool/Software
The Telangana police’s tender for software development presents numerous problematic aspects. Below is a short list summarizing the most concerning issues, followed by a detailed breakdown of the police’s requirements for each tool:
- Cloud keys for device snooping: The TG police want to use the cloud keys available on mobile phones so that they leave minimal login traces and don’t alert the end user. This is nothing short of spying. Why would the police want to access data without alerting the user? Shouldn’t a search or seizure warrant be mandatory before such device-snooping?
- Monitoring online conversations for businesses: Using their “consumer intelligence and social listening platform,” the police want to monitor not only online “news” but also conversations. They want to use AI to label them as positive, negative, or neutral. Additionally, they want to track “brand mentions” and analyse brand performance against competitors. Why would a police department want to do this and “help businesses”?
- Breaking end-to-end encryption: The police want to retrieve and view disappearing messages, such as WhatsApp’s view-once messages. This is an absolute violation of individual privacy, especially if ethical and constitutional safeguards are not followed.
Provisions and powers like these can have detrimental effects on individuals if the law is not followed and respected. For instance, in January 2024, MediaNama reported how Bengaluru police searched the smartphones of individuals for evidence of marijuana use without any warrant. Such unwarranted searches of digital devices are even more common with Hyderabad police, especially the Narcotics Control Bureau’s (NCB) EAGLE team. Additionally, politically motivated arrests and seizures could easily be misused if such exploitative systems are in place and the law is not respected.
These are only a few among many issues in the Telangana government’s tender copy. A breakdown of key requirements from each tool follows:
Tool 1: Talk Walker Tool
According to the Technical Specifications Compliance Statement in the…
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