Amidst reports that India is the fifth most tracked country by US intelligence, Indian foreign ministry on Tuesday said it was both concerned and surprised at the disclosure according to which a secret data-mining programme was being used to snoop on worldwide Internet data.
External affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said on Tuesday: “We are concerned and surprised about it.” He added, “ There is a cyber security dialogue between India and the US and it is coordinated by the National Security Councils on both sides. We feel that this is the appropriate fora to discuss such issues.”
He added, “We intend to seek information and details during consultations between interlocutors on both sides on this matter.”
Noting that it is an evolving situation at present and “India does not want to jump to any conclusions”, Mr Akbaruddin did say that “if it is discovered that Indian laws relating to privacy of information have been violated, we would find it unacceptable”.
Mr Akbaurdidn further said: “We will take it as it evolves and have a better understanding and a clearer paradigm of how to tackle this issue once broader paramemetres in its entirety are available for us.
According recent reports published in the UK daily the Guardian, the US National Security Agency (NSA) was using a data-mining tool called “Boundless Informant” to collect intelligence from computer networks worldwide.
US’ arch enemy Iran is the country from whose networks the US appears to have gathered the maximum amount of intelligence followed by Pakistan.
A close US ally, Jordan was in the third place while Egypt was in fourth place. India was in the fifth position.