Central Monitoring System

The Central Monitoring System, abbreviated to CMS, is a clandestine mass electronic surveillance data mining program installed by the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), an Indian Government owned telecommunications technology development centre, and operated by Telecom Enforcement Resource and Monitoring (TERM) Cells. The CMS gives law enforcement agencies centralized access to India's telecommunications network and the ability to listen in on and record mobile, landline and satellite calls and voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), and read private emails, SMS and MMS and geolocate people via their cell phones, all in real time. Telecom operators in India are required by law to give access to their networks to law enforcement agencies. From 2014 onwards, mobile network operators will be required to include in the Call Data Records details of the caller's location, the number called, the duration of the call, and the mobile tower used.