Oppn MP urges parliamentary panel to take up hacking of iPhones

Opposition members on Wednesday urged the parliamentary panel on Information Technology to look into the alleged hacking of some of their iPhones, while a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha member argued that only the government, and not a parliamentary panel, had the jurisdiction to probe the issue.

On Tuesday, Opposition leaders had flagged some of them having received an alert from Apple that warned them of "state-sponsored attackers trying to remotely compromise" their iPhones and alleged hacking by the government. Union IT and Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had rejected the charge but assured a thorough probe.

On Wednesday, Congress Lok Sabha member Karti Chidambaram, in a letter to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology chairperson Prataprao Jadhav, said the panel should call those people who have got the warning message from Apple as well as representatives of the firm at the meeting. Chidambaram is a member of the panel.

However, BJP Lok Sabha MP Nishikant Dubey argued that the parliamentary panel was not empowered to take up Apple's warning message issue as the matter comes under the government's jurisdiction according to Lok Sabha rules. Dubey is also a member of the panel.

In a post on X in Hindi, Dubey said, "The country does not run by creating pressure by giving statements in newspapers. The Standing Committee on Information and Telecommunications is no longer headed by Shashi Tharoor and run by Rahul Gandhi (both Congress leaders). This committee runs under the rules of the Lok Sabha." Under the rules of the Lok Sabha, the investigation into Apple's warning to its subscribers comes under the jurisdiction of the central government while their iPhones can be checked by state police for further verification of allegations, he claimed. "Our committee of which I am also a member cannot hold a meeting on this subject," Dubey said.

Prataprao Jadhav, chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, told PTI that the panel would act on the issue if anyone flags the matter to it.

In a related development, Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member Mahua Moitra on Wednesday wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla flagging alerts received by several opposition leaders about "state-sponsored" attacks on their iPhones, and urged him to provide them protection to continue doing their duties. This "illegal surveillance by the government" is the worst attack on fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution, she said.

Moitra said the threat was "doubly shocking in light of the Pegasus software (sold only to governments) that was used to compromise the devices of various members of the opposition, dissenting journalists and members of civil society during 2019-2021." "In spite of the opposition raising this issue in the House, no debate was allowed and no conclusive report has been filed by any agency," she said. Moitra said international organisations such as 'Access Now' and 'Citizen Lab' confirmed in September the validity of Apple's threat notifications and lent it "enormous credibility".