Cops will not probe key taps at cafes

Ketan Tanna / TNN / Nov 22, 2007, 02:35 IST

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The cyber crime cell has been successful in getting the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of clients from four of the seven major ISPs. The remaining three are in the process of giving IP addresses to the cell.

MUMBAI: The Mumbai police will not be installing software at cyber cafes across the city to monitor each and every key tapped on computer keyboards. Earlier, there were reports in a section of the media that the cyber crime cell would be installing key-logging software to help them track computer use at cafes.
The reports said that a new monitoring software, Cyber Access Remote Monitoring System, would be installed in cafes. But deputy commissioner of police (preventive) Sanjay Mohite, who is in charge of tackling cyber crime in the city, said the news was "baseless".
Ashish Saboo, president of the Association of Public ICT Tools Access Providers, an industry association of cyber cafe owners, used the Right To Information Act to ask for clarifications on the police’s alleged decision.
The police replied that neither had they talked about monitoring surveillance tools for cyber cafes, nor had they solicited any such equipment.

Mohite said software companies keen on hawking their products may have generated the stories.
"It is not easy for us to monitor each and every thing with respect to computers. There are certain strict legal procedures we follow when even mails are intercepted. How can we log each and every bit of data from all the cyber cafes? The news about CARMS is baseless," said Mohite.
With respect to investigations, Mohite said it was difficult to investigate a case when the alleged crime originates from the US-based Yahoo.com platform.
Complaints addressed to the portal evoke a lukewarm response because what constitutes a cyber crime in India is not necessarily a crime in the US. However, the Indian arm of the portal, Yahoo.co.in, cooperates with the police.
"Our complaints about cyber crimes from the US platform have not evoked a proper response from the parent company. They have told us that they can act only when the complaint we have made is a crime in their country," said Mohite.
He added that the US has strict privacy laws that the portal must also comply with. Other portals, like Google and Orkut, have promptly attended to the police’s complaints and queries, he said. When contacted, Yahoo declined to reply.
In another development, the Mumbai police would soon be able to zero in on any computer used for a cyber crime without first having to approach the city’s Internet Service Providers (ISPs). This would save a lot of time and help crack cases sooner, Mohite said.
The cyber crime cell has been successful in getting the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of clients from four of the seven major ISPs. The remaining three are in the process of giving IP addresses to the cell.
This means that lakhs of IP addresses have become a part of the cyber cell’s data.
The police said they had no plans of keeping the data of computer users in other cities.
ketan.tanna@timesgroup.com

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