India To Seek Details From US About Snooping Reports

New Delhi, June 12, IRNA -- India voiced surprise and concern saying it will seek information and details from the US over reports that it was the fifth most-traced country by the American intelligence which used a secret data-mining programme to monitor worldwide Internet. New Delhi also made it clear that it would be ˈunacceptableˈ if it was found that domestic laws relating to privacy of information of citizens were violated. ˈYes, we are concerned and surprised about it,ˈ External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said. He said that US and India have a cyber security dialogue which is coordinated by National Security Councils on both sides. ˈWe feel that this is the appropriate fora to discuss such issues. We intend to seek information and details during consultations between interlocutors from both sides on this matter in that appropriate forum,ˈ Akbaruddin told reporters here, pti reported. Asked about possible violations of Indian privacy laws, he said, ˈObviously, we will find it to be unacceptable if Indian laws relating to privacy of information of Indian ordinary citizens have been violated. Surely we will, frankly, find it unacceptableˈ. He noted that reports about the spy program was an evolving situation. ˈEvery day we find new issues coming up. We will take it, rather than jump to conclusions at this stage,ˈ Akbaruddin added. ˈWe will take it as it evolves and have a better understanding and a clearer paradigm of how to tackle this issue once broader parameters in its entirety are available for us,ˈ he said. According to UKˈs Guardian newspaper, India was the fifth most tracked country. The daily claims to have acquired top secret documents about USˈ National Security Agencyˈs (NSA) data-mining tool, called Boundless Informant. A snapshot of the Boundless Informant data, contained in a top secret NSA ˈglobal heat mapˈ, shows that in March 2013 the agency collected 97 billion pieces of intelligence from computer networks worldwide./end