{
 "no": 15,
 "id": "case-15",
 "sk": 20210718,
 "year": 2021,
 "date": "18 Jul 2021",
 "cat": "Rights and dissent",
 "sev": "amber",
 "title": "Pegasus. Spyware, and a refusal to answer",
 "stamp": "Neither confirmed nor denied",
 "human": {
  "v": "Journalists, activists, opposition figures and officials on the alleged target list",
  "est": true
 },
 "cost": {
  "v": "Not quantified. The damage is to a free press and a fair opposition.",
  "est": false
 },
 "what": "A global investigation reported that military-grade Pegasus spyware may have targeted the phones of Indian journalists, activists and opposition politicians.",
 "dodge": "Rather than say plainly whether the state had bought or used the spyware, the government neither confirmed nor denied it, and then withheld cooperation from the Supreme Court's own technical committee, which reported it could not get the government to engage. A clean denial was never offered. The question was simply left to rot.",
 "ministers": [
  {
   "n": "Union Home and IT Ministries",
   "r": "Oversight of surveillance"
  }
 ],
 "pos": "The government dismissed the reporting as an attempt to malign Indian democracy and cited national security.",
 "alleg": "Whether the government itself deployed Pegasus remains <em>unconfirmed</em>; the SC panel found malware on some devices but could not conclusively attribute it, partly because of non-cooperation.",
 "alt": "Answer under oath, place surveillance under judicial and parliamentary oversight, and legislate warrants and review.",
 "sources": [
  {
   "label": "SC order constituting Pegasus committee, Oct 2021",
   "url": "https://indiankanoon.org/doc/39021018/",
   "tier": 1,
   "archiveUrl": "http://web.archive.org/web/20260718065416/https://indiankanoon.org/doc/39021018/"
  },
  {
   "label": "Pegasus Project findings, The Wire, July 2021",
   "url": "https://thewire.in/government/project-pegasus-journalists-ministers-activists-phones-spying",
   "tier": 2,
   "archiveUrl": "http://web.archive.org/web/20260712080842/https://thewire.in/government/project-pegasus-journalists-ministers-activists-phones-spying"
  }
 ],
 "caseUrl": "https://whoisresponsible.xyz/case/case-15/"
}