New Delhi has cleared the way for government agencies to purchase Israeli phone‑hacking tools, bypassing its own “make in India” procurement rules. An investigation by the digital‑rights group Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) revealed that Home Minister Amit Shah signed a waiver on January 7, allowing the purchase of at least 422 foreign technology items, including products from Cellebrite, a leading Israeli company.
Under normal circumstances, the procurement framework requires preference for Indian manufacturers. However, the waiver granted Shah the authority to override this rule for a one‑year period, enabling the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and other forensic bodies to acquire Cellebrite’s Premium Tool on a three‑year licence for roughly 50 million rupees (about $530,000).
States across the political spectrum have also bought similar devices. In addition to the BJP‑led central government, opposition‑ruled states such as Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka purchased phone‑extraction and cloning tools from the same Israeli firm.
Documents reviewed by IFF show that the technology is not limited to extracting data from locked phones. The software can also retrieve login tokens from seized devices, granting access to over 100 cloud services, including Instagram, X and Tinder, as well as data from connected home devices like Amazon Alexa and Google Home.
Digital‑rights lawyer Vrinda Bhandari warned that India’s current legal framework offers no safeguards against overreaching surveillance. “It is clear that India’s surveillance capabilities are expanding both in scope and depth,” she said. “Mass surveillance is becoming easier, and the tools allow for more intrusive monitoring.”
The IFF’s findings raise concerns that the country’s surveillance powers now operate in a legal grey zone, with little oversight. Rights groups and activists have called for stricter regulation and transparency in the procurement of such technology.
Source: Al Jazeera
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