Need to change definition of privacy: NSA

National Security Adviser (NSA) Shiv Shankar Menon on Friday said the country needs to change the definition of privacy in the cyberworld.

National Security Adviser (NSA) Shiv Shankar Menon on Friday said the country needs to change the definition of privacy in the cyberworld.


After releasing the first version of the guidelines for protection of national critical information infrastructure, prepared by a joint working group created under the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), Menon told the representatives of critical sectors of the country that the critical information infrastructure present on computers and the cyberspace needs to be secured so that they can maintain their open and democratic chrarcater.

"We have to keep in mind that (we need to) maintain privacy but also at the same time secure it. Now these are not necessarily always in conflict but what it does mean is that we have to probably change definitions of privacy; whether you like it or not this is a gold fish bowl and we are reminded of this over and over again everyday when we see story in the media about what various people were using (to snoop)," said Menon.

Interestingly so far these guidelines have been classified as restricted; therefore they cannot be widely circulated, defeating the whole purpose of their public release. But a senior NTRO official said, they will soon declassify it for its wider circulation.

“See, with the advent of digitalisation, the critical infrastructure is now turning into critical information infrastructure (CII).

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Once a CII sector is defined as protected under the section 70 of the Information Technology Act, they should adopt these guidelines,” said Muktesh Chander, a joint commissioner with the Delhi police and former centre director in the NTRO. Chander was part of the joint working group that came up with the guidelines.