Interception of WhatsApp calls on House panel radar

Whether calls made via WhatsApp, which are supposed to be end-to-end encrypted, can be intercepted and covered under the Telegraph Act was among points of discussion of the Parliamentary panel on information technology during a meeting with officials from the communications ministry on Wednesday, people familiar with the matter said.

The Telegraph Act allows the government to legally intercept information.

The panel, led by Congress lawmaker Shashi Tharoor, also raised questions regarding the Telegraph Act and its provisions dealing with issues related to social media, and the alleged use of Israeli spyware Pegasus by the government to spy on prominent individuals, the people cited above said.