The Committee is slated to meet on July 28 on the subject of 'Citizen’s data security and privacy' which gains significance in light of the recent revelations around Pegasus spyware and surveillance. Ahead of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology's meeting next Wednesday, the committee's chairman Shashi Tharoor in an interview to The Wire said “the best thing would be to appoint a sitting Supreme Court judge to head an independent enquiry" on the matter of the Pegasus exposé. "I believe that what is essential is that the investigation have the power to summon officials and comments, take evidence, weight the evidence and present a conclusion," - Tharoor in the interview. Adding to his statement on a judicial investigation, Tharoor said that, "Since the government itself is the institution of the entity that is accused of having misused Pegasus it cannot be the investigator of its own wrong-doings if there were any." Tharoor also noted that there was a Commission of Enquiry Act in which a recently retired SC judge can be appointed to head a commission of enquiry. Why does this matter: Investigations carried out by a consortium of 17 news organisations worldwide last week revealed that 300 Indians have been listed as persons of interest for surveillance by the Israeli firm NSO Group's Pegasus spyware. These potential targets include Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, former Karnataka chief ministers HD Kumaraswamy and Siddaramaiah, among other opposition leaders, lawyers, bureaucrats, private sector professionals, activists, journalists, and officials in the Election Commission and…
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