[governance] EC aborts tie-up with Google over security concerns

[parminder]

The below is the press release that was earlier released by a group of 
Indian security experts. These kinds of concerns of data safety not just 
reg personal concerns  but also, as importantly, larger social and 
polical ones will increasingly become mainstay.



            Indian InfoSec Consortium Press Release

    *Issue of trust on American companies in wake of disclosures by
    Edward Snowden*

    It is shocking that in a country like India which is called worlds
    software superpower, Election Commission instead of an Indian
    Company has chosen a foreign company like Google, which has colluded
    with American Intelligence agencies like NSA( National Security
    Agency) for Global Cyber spying, to provide electoral registration
    and facilitation services by providing them the whole database of
    registered voters in India.

    This will pose a unprecedented security risk to India, as this data
    is bound to be surely misused by Google and American agencies for
    cyber espionage and other surveillance operations by United States.

    It has been absolutely clear after the Edward Snowden (NSA
    contractor) leaks in recent months that National Security Agency of
    United states has been conducting Cyber espionage and technical
    surveillance across the world through every single means of
    resources and data available.

    American Companies including Google have been assisting NSA to
    conduct cyber espionage and surveillance operations by providing
    complete access to personal data of their users available on their
    servers. Above facts which are in the public domain and have also
    been on record accepted by Presidents of United States of America

*Possible Threat to India and misuse of data*

    Not only has EC decided to make the existing voter database
    available to Google but they have also reportedly tied up with them
    to provide online voter registration services. As we are aware that
    online voter registration form includes personal details like Name,
    address, Phone numbers, email ids age and family details but to
    bring it to your notice it will also result in reviling cyber
    identities of voters to Google like the surfing history, online
    activities, email and social media accounts and ip addresses too.

    *This huge amount of personal information that can be easily used to
    survey upon the targets as per the wishes of American agencies and
    the break into their systems if necessary*.

    Google may not only use this information for their advertisements
    programs which are based on such user details but can also conduct
    other activities like electoral surveys for American agencies which
    may at some stage be used to, alter, affect or formulate public
    opinions in India.

    Google’s recent survey on most searched political personalities in
    India is one such example, which can surely result in changing
    public perceptions and opinions of electorate.

    *In light of the above concerns the INDIAN INFOSEC CONSORTIUM
    requests EC to put this tie-up immediately on hold and ensure that
    no data of any kind is transferred to Google or any other foreign
    company. For any further steps IIC recommends EC to seek Security
    clearance from designated cyber security agencies.*

    *We are also offering to provide indigenous solution for online
    voter registration service free of cost in Election commission of
    India may so desire.*

http://trak.in/tags/business/2014/01/06/ec-tie-up-google-threat-national-security-infosec-consortium/ 



On Thursday 09 January 2014 10:02 PM, Guru गुरु wrote:
>
> "The (Indian Election) Commission had earlier signed a non-disclosure 
> agreement with Google" :-D
> regards
> Guru
>
> The Election Commission has decided not to pursue its proposed tie-up 
> with internet giant Google after concerns over national security were 
> raised from several quarters, including major parties. The U.S-based 
> Google had earlier this week made a formal presentation to the 
> Election Commission proposing a tie-up with it for voter facilitation 
> services ahead of Lok Sabha elections.
>
> The Commission, in its meeting in New Delhi on Thursday which was 
> attended by Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath and Election 
> Commissioners H.S. Brahma and S.N.A. Zaidi, deliberated on the issue 
> and decided not to go ahead. “After due consideration, the Commission 
> has decided not to pursue it any further,” said an EC official. The EC 
> said Google had proposed to provide electoral look up services for 
> citizens to help in Commission’s efforts for better electoral 
> information services.
>
> The Commission had earlier signed a non-disclosure agreement with 
> Google but had not shared or handed over any data to the internet 
> giant so far and was deliberating on the tie-up with it for using its 
> search engines for voter facilitation. Congress and BJP besides some 
> cyberspace experts had voiced concerns over the proposed tie-up, 
> saying stakeholders should have been consulted before a decision. The 
> Congress legal cell has written to the Chief Election Commissioner 
> raising security concerns over the proposed tie-up and hoped it will 
> not have any effect on the electoral process and national security. 
> BJP also expressed concerns and said the issue could have been 
> discussed first at an all-party meeting by EC.
>
> Questioning the EC’s move, a group of cyber security experts had 
> written to the panel amid concerns over sharing of vital data 
> pertaining to Indians to a foreign company. The concerns also come at 
> a time when eyebrows have been raised over leaking of vital data of 
> Indians to United States intelligence agencies as exposed by Edward 
> Snowden.
>
>
> source - 
> http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/ec-aborts-tieup-with-google-over-security-concerns/article5557857.ece?homepage=true 
>
> -- 
> Gurumurthy Kasinathan
> Director, IT for Change
> /In Special Consultative Status with the United Nations ECOSOC/
> www.ITforChange.Net  <http://www.itforchange.net/>  | Cell:91 9845437730 | Tel:91 80 26654134, 26536890
> http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Subject_Teacher_Forum  

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