Milind Deora, India's Minister of State for IT thinks that the Central Monitoring System (CMS), which is essentially India's version of PRISM, "is a good tool" which will "ensure and protect your privacy". On a Google Hangout last week with him, I asked Deora about the IT Act, the IT Rules, India's Identity project (Aadhaar), and the CMS and other systems the Indian government is setting up for tracking SMS, GPRS usage, Phone Calls, Location, and what users are accessing and downloading. Please note that this was held a day before the disclosures around PRISM. For those unable to view the video, Deora said that no law is perfect, there are issues with implementation, they're open to suggestions, but above all, Deora said - bizarrely - that the CMS is being set up to safeguard our privacy from mobile operators,and protects the national security of the country. He said that with processes set up, the officer in charge will not have access to information, politicians will not get access. He did not respond to the question on India's privacy law (that it doesn't exist). Apart from that, Deora said I'm misinformed. The context of my questions: 1. India's IT Act, it's Section 66a and IT Rules are draconian, the government has promised to amend them (read this), but kept deferring making any changes, despite the issue being taken up by a committee (read this) and Parliament (read this, this, this and these notes on a live discussion), and a public interest litigation (read this).…
