Late last week, Vodafone Group released a document that provided information on the global monitoring of information on its network. It has disclosed no information for India, stating that it isn't allowed to, under law. The company hasn't responded to MediaNama's queries about whether is Vodafone India is linked to the Centralised Monitoring System set up by the Indian government, and whether enforcement agencies and government bodies in India can access the networks without asking for the carrier's permission and help. What Vodafone has provided, however, is a fairly lucid overview of Indian laws pertaining to monitoring and interception. That can be downloaded here. We've created a guide below, based on Vodafone's interpretation of Indian law. In case of any additional information, clarifications or corrections, please email nikhil@medianama.com. Your guide to Government interception of your personal data in India Q: What does the law allow? IT Act: Request (more like a demand) for information and realtime monitoring. UAS License and ISP License: Hardware/software in the ISP equipment to allow the government enable interception and monitoring from a centralised location, and for simultaneous monitoring by the government. Government can prescribe which equipment has to be deployed, for monitoring. Mirroring of information: In case of remote access of information, the licensee is required to install suitable technical devices enabling the creation of a mirror image of the remote access information for monitoring purposes. Simultaneous monitoring by the government. Tracing facilities to trace messages or communications CrPC: No equipment mentioned Q. What can they…
