Trai’s proposal to regulate OTT concerning, may threaten privacy, end encryption: Experts

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Signal or Telegram could be «over regulated» with the threat of encryption being compromised, said technology policy experts after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) proposed to regulate such services in its consultation paper released last week. OTT services are currently regulated under the IT Act, which will soon be replaced by the proposed Digital India Bill.

Experts said currently the government is required to give a notice under Section 69(a) of the IT Act to track calls and if OTT services are regulated by Trai, it will make it much easier for the government to intercept calls. The firms may also have to do away with end-to-end encryption, which will be a risk to user privacy and threaten operations of firms like Whatsapp in India, experts said.

“OTTs are currently regulated under the IT Act and adding another regulator in the mix is likely to complicate issues. India will probably have to consider a collaborative digital regulation framework like the one that the UK has set up,” said Rohit Kumar, founding partner of public policy research firm The Quantum Hub.

Last Friday, Trai had issued a consultation paper on the regulatory mechanism for OTT communication services as well as their selective banning on national security grounds. Prateek Waghre, policy director, Internet Freedom Foundation, said the existence of such a consultation is directionally concerning.

“It seeks to operationalise greater restrictions on communication between citizens—whether in the form 'selective banning' or interception, likely with grave consequences,” he said. Nikhil Narendran, partner at the TMT practice of law firm Trilegal, said, «Once a licensing regime is brought in, for OTT services, the whole architecture of