Government sets up Central Monitoring System to tap phone calls, e-mail

        NEW DELHI: Government has launched a wide-ranging surveillance programme that will give security agencies and even income tax officials the ability to tap directly into e-mails and phone calls without oversight by courts or parliament, several sources said. 

               The expanded surveillance, which the government says will help safeguard national security, has alarmed privacy advocates at a time when allegations of massive US digital snooping beyond American shores has set off a global furore.