Supreme Court to hear PIL on US Surveillance of internet data; Petitioner seeks prosecution of CEOs of internet companies

A Public Interest Litigation has been filed in the Supreme Court by a former Dean of Faculty of Law, Delhi University, Professor S N Singh, seeking action against internet companies for breach of contract and violation of right to privacy of Indians by sharing Indian data with US intelligence agencies..The petitioner has contended that the Government’s sensitive internet communication is a “record” as per provisions of Public Records Act, 1993 and the same is being kept outside India in US servers which is unlawfully intruded by US Intelligence Agencies through US-based internet companies..Singh has further contended that,...as per reports, US based nine internet companies operating in India through agreements signed with Indian users, shared 6.3 billion information/data with National Security Agency of USA without express consent of the Indian users”.He has prayed for prosecuting the CEOs of such Internet companies which have shared information with US agencies and initiation of action against such companies for breach of contract, and violation of the right to privacy. Singh has also prayed for stopping all the official government communication through US based internet companies and to take steps to ensure that all such internet companies, who are doing business in India, establish their servers in the country so that they are brought within the ambit of Indian Laws..A Division Bench comprising of Justices AK Patnaik and Ranjan Gogoi has posted the case for hearing next week on June 25, 2013..The news of US agencies spying on internet users worldwide had created a huge uproar. The issue came to light after whistle blower Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee, was able to access documents pertaining to two secret programs of the National Security Agency (NSA) and leaked the same to The Guardian and Washington Post..One of the programs, codenamed PRSIM, involved tracking all communication through service providers like Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Skype. The leaks had invited strong reactions from other countries including European nations like Germany and Belgium. US President Barack Obama had defended the security measures saying that in implementing the security measures, USA had struck the appropriate balance between privacy and security. Subsequently, the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said that program was supervised by a secret court and the US government did not act unilaterally..It remains to be seen what course of action the Apex Court would adopt in the case considering the fact that the allegedly despotic measures taken by the Central and the State governments in India under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 are already under the consideration of the Supreme Court..The summary of the petition filed by S N Singh is given below.