Thread by @Iyervval

A thread on Digital Surveillance
1 was the government the one snooping on assorted journalists & politicians? Yes, almost certainly: it’s rebuttals have been obfuscatory so as not to be caught lying outright. In my case from 2016 to 2019 during the #Rafale brouhaha 2 journalists

2 from @EconomicTimes had apparently got my entire call records from Punjab police & were tracking my cell phone movement to see who I was meeting. It wasn’t a big deal for me as I had literally nothing to hide - but certain editors warned me as to what was happening

3 I ignored it despite the fact certain Intel agencies also told me what exactly was happening. For starters what I’d been doing was open & knowing a bit about cybersecurity I knew there was literally no way to protect myself. The second issue is the trust you have in government

4 in France people trust government over corporations & in the US it’s the reverse. I don’t trust the government but since I’m not doing anything illegal or conspiring, I had literally no issues with anyone peeking or listening in. Not everybody is like me though. Some people

5 however are intensely concerned about their privacy. It doesn’t mean they’re engaging in criminal activity- just that they value their privacy. The issue is that in a system like India, with a failing judiciary, a jurisprudence where “fruits of a poisonous tree” doesn’t apply

6 an undertrained, understaffed police force, zero consequences for violations, bureaucratic unaccountability, nepotism across the board, the entire system is basically prone to abuse of surveillance powers. There’s nothing anyone can do about it unless you’re willing to fix ALL

7 the factors. So do you have a right to be outraged that the government was snooping on you? Emphatically yes! Does the fact you cheered the illegal intercept of Arnab Goswami’s phone in way excuse what’s been done to you? No - you’re a hypocrite but it doesn’t take away your

8 right to privacy. However you’d do well to remember that a large percentage of tapping requests actually come from your own fellow journalists & personal vendettas/professional jealousy. If you’re a “seasoned” journalist you’d know that by now - if you don’t you’re being

9 disingenuous. Also if you want to systemically fix this - as opposed to ensuring that only you don’t get snooped on but others do - then consider finding the actual systemic problems that have led to this, rather than peddling your political agenda. Thanks.

10 just one last thing since several of you were DMing: it wasn’t the Punjab government who had me under surveillance- it was done by police specifically off the books as a special favour to two journalists. Journalists - not government mind you & has there been anything this

11 equally illegal surveillance would’ve been passed off as a “scoop” and journalistic privilege/prerogative.