U.S. is not alone in eavesdropping

Eavesdropping by the Bush administration in the United States of America on Americans seems peanuts compared to the blatant disregard of privacy rights by several countries. The revelation that President Bush had authorised the National Security Agency, an intelligence agency, has snowballed into a major controversy. But the blatant violation of privacy rights of citizens is a common thing in several countries including democracies. In these countries, emails are being read and telephone conversations tapped in a routine manner by the intelligence agencies. India, the biggest democracy of the world is one of such countries. Privacy International, a global watchdog of privacy rights had also reported that “India’s Intelligence Bureau….have developed an e-mail interception tool similar to the FBI’s Carnivore system, which it claims to use in anti-terrorist investigations.” The concept of privacy laws itself is a novelty in India while there is a hue and cry over the US extra-judicial methods of intelligence gathering.