MeitY tweaks IT rules, surveillance data to be deleted within six months

The government has amended the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Interception, Monitoring and Decryption of Information) Rules to give the Union and the state home secretary the power to order deletion of the order for interception, monitoring or decryption and the actual information of a person under surveillance after six months. Until now, the power to delete was with the security agency which had requested the surveillance either from the home ministry or a competent court.

What do the amended rules say?

The government has amended the IT Rules for interception, monitoring and decryption of information to give a “competent authority” the power to order deletion of records. In these cases, the home secretary, both at the state and the central level is the competent authority who can now ask for such surveillance orders and its records to be deleted. The IT ministry has also amended the rules to declare computer resources related to the National Investigation Agency and their associated dependencies as critical information infrastructure.

What do these amendments mean?

According to IT ministry officials, the first amendment to the rules gives more clarification as the Home Ministry, both at the central and the state level, is the nodal agency to execute orders to intercept, monitor and decrypt information. “This is just a technical clarification. Since the home secretary is not a ‘security agency’, it was done to prove that clarity,” an IT ministry official said.

The government has amended the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Interception, Monitoring and Decryption of Information) Rules to give the Union and the state home secretary the power to order deletion of the order for interception, monitoring or decryption and the actual information of a person under surveillance after six months. Until now, the power to delete was with the security agency which had requested the surveillance either from the home ministry or a competent court.

What do the amended rules say?

The government has amended the IT Rules for interception, monitoring and decryption of information to give a “competent authority” the power to order deletion of records. In these cases, the home secretary, both at the state and the central level is the competent authority who can now ask for such surveillance orders and its records to be deleted. The IT ministry has also amended the rules to declare computer resources related to the National Investigation Agency and their associated dependencies as critical information infrastructure.

What do these amendments mean?

According to IT ministry officials, the first amendment to the rules gives more clarification as the Home Ministry, both at the central and the state level, is the nodal agency to execute orders to intercept, monitor and decrypt information. “This is just a technical clarification. Since the home secretary is not a ‘security agency’, it was done to prove that clarity,” an IT ministry official said.