Kerala joins BJP-led Centre in buying Israeli tools capable of extracting phone and cloud data

Not only the BJP-led Central government, but also states ruled by the opposition Congress, including Kerala, Karnataka, and Himachal Pradesh, have entered into procurement agreements with an Israeli firm that develops and sells intrusive surveillance technology, from which no social media or digital platform remains immune, as it facilitates exhaustive extractions of personal data, and for which the Centre relaxed its domestic manufacturing mandates.

An investigation by the digital rights organisation Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), reviewed by Al Jazeera, has revealed that Union Home Minister Amit Shah authorised exemptions from the "Make in India" procurement rules in January, clearing the path for Indian forensic institutions to acquire at least 422 items of foreign surveillance equipment, including tools manufactured by the Israeli intelligence contractor Cellebrite.

Furthermore, subsequent ministerial correspondence revealed that the National Investigation Agency was granted permission to purchase Cellebrite’s Premium Tool on a three-year licence for approximately Rs 5 crore.

The exemption, however, was not confined to a single company, as the list included 118 products related to digital and multimedia forensics, alongside software developed by international firms such as Magnet, MSAB, Oxygen Forensics and Belkasoft.

The capabilities of these technologies extend considerably beyond unlocking password-protected phones and extracting deleted files, as specifications examined by Al Jazeera reveal that government agencies sought systems capable of accessing more than 100 cloud-based services, including Google, Apple, WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram, X, Discord and dating platforms such as Tinder, Grindr and OkCupid.

The tools can also exploit login tokens recovered from seized devices to gain access to online accounts, while other specifications cover the extraction of information from drones, wearable technology and smart-home devices such as Amazon Alexa and Google Home.

Digital rights advocates warn that India's existing legal framework offers inadequate safeguards against such extensive intrusion into personal privacy. Although the Supreme Court recognised privacy as a fundamental right in its landmark 2017 judgement, there is no specific statute governing the forced unlocking and complete extraction of data from seized mobile phones.

Supreme Court lawyer Vrinda Bhandari told Al Jazeera that surveillance was becoming both wider and deeper, enabling authorities to construct an increasingly comprehensive picture of individuals' lives. She argued that meaningful parliamentary or judicial oversight was essential to prevent indiscriminate intrusion.

For critics and journalists on the ground, these expansive digital capabilities represent a tangible threat rather than a theoretical concern, and recent incidents in New Delhi have underscored the opaque nature of police seizures.

Last month, prominent YouTuber Dhruv Rathee alleged that Delhi Police attempted to clone his iPhone during a brief detention ahead of street protests, whereas Siasat Daily reporter Mohammad Aslam Hussain recounted that all recorded footage of his journalism was selectively erased from his password-protected Samsung handset while it remained in police custody, leaving him to wonder how officers breached his device without explanation.