As a citizen I understand that we must do what we need to do to protect ourselves and that such systems are primarily designed to protect the interests of the country. But if the recent past is any indication, the scope for misuse and the impact of such misuse will be, I fear, far more damaging in the long term than anything this system hopes to prevent. An article on The Centre for Internet and Society (cis-india.org) puts all the pros and cons of this system into perspective. A few highlights from the article:

“The Central Monitoring System (CMS) may just be another step in the wrong direction, especially since India currently lacks privacy laws which can protect citizens from potential abuse.”