7 hours Ago
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court said there is nothing wrong if the central government uses spy software for national security without targeting civil society. The court's crucial observation came while considering the pleas related to the Pegasus case. The court stated that the details of the case, which was handled secretly, cannot be made public as it affects the security and sovereignty of the country.
The case was considered by a bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotishwar Singh. The Supreme Court was considering a case alleging that the central government is using Israeli spyware Pegasus to spy on political leaders, journalists and activists. The court pointed out that there is nothing wrong with the country using spyware, but the question is against whom it is being used.
Senior advocate Shyam Diwan, appearing for the petitioners, had demanded on Tuesday that the investigation report of the technical committee appointed by the Supreme Court be made public. It was at this stage that the bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotishwar Singh announced that it would hear the petitions on the April 29. Meantime, a report last year revealed that Pegasus, an Israeli spyware that gained notoriety for leaking secrets from the phones of VIPs, including political leaders, was also found on ordinary people's phones.
This was pointed out in a report released by cybersecurity researchers iVerify. Thread Hunter, iVerify's system for detecting spyware, detected the presence of Pegasus on phones..
