India: US spying on Internet data of citizens unacceptable

NEW DELHI - India Tuesday voiced concern over the reported US spying on internet data of Indian citizens, saying it would be "unacceptable" if domestic privacy laws were violated.

"We are concerned and surprised about it. We will find it to be unacceptable if Indian laws relating to the privacy of information of Indian ordinary citizens have been violated. Surely we will, frankly, find it unacceptable," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said in the national capital.

India is the fifth most tracked country by American intelligence agencies which used a secret data-mining program to keep a tab on the worldwide internet data, according to media reports.

The External Affairs Ministry spokesperson said that both the United States and India "do have a cyber security dialogue" to discuss issues like the internet monitoring. "We intend to seek information and details during consultations between interlocutors from both sides on this matter in that forum," he said.