This was in response to a query in the Lok Sabha on whether law enforcement agencies can decode digital data, such as WhatsApp conversations.
Only permitted law enforcement agencies in the country have the authority to tap telephones or intercept and monitor any electronically transmitted information, according to the government. In response to a question about whether national or international agencies are authorised to monitor and decrypt any digital material, including WhatsApp conversations, Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra said this.
"As per legal provisions of section 69 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, only authorised law enforcement agencies in the country are empowered to intercept, monitor, or decrypt, or cause to be intercepted, monitored, or decrypted, any information generated, transmitted, received, or stored in any computer resource," he said in response to a written question.
The Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Interception, Monitoring, and Decryption of Information) Rules, 2009, and the Standard Operating Procedure created for the purpose, according to the minister, include safeguards and a review system for telephone tapping.
