RSS ideologue K N Govindacharya has filed a plea in the Supreme Court for use of video conferencing facility, developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC), instead of foreign companies' apps, by the government and courts in the country.
He sought amendment into the Supreme Court Rules, 2013 and Rules of the High Courts, in accordance with the top court's Suo Motu order of April 6, 2020, with necessary safeguards for hearing of matters through video conferencing.
In an application, he contended that video conferencing and live streaming infrastructure should be treated as “critical information infrastructure” and their security must be audited by the government agencies as per Information Technology (National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre and Manner of Performing Functions and Duties) Rules, 2013.
"Important meetings like those of the Cabinet have may secretive contents, which should not come out in the public. India is always a target of terrorism and needs to take special care to avoid any attack, be it traditional, biological or technological," he said.
He cited the April 12, 2020 advisory issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs against use of 'Zoom' video conferencing software as unsafe. It was learnt that several High Courts were using this particular app for hearing of the matter.
On April 15, 2020, the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) also issued an advisory in relation to video conferencing platforms, saying that “fraudsters have found…opportunity to conduct unauthorised activities resulting in obtaining of sensitive information of individuals and organization”.