Government panel recommendation to regulate only domestic internet based calls will lead to breach of privacy and will be tough to monitor compliance, IT sector body Nasscom said.
“It (recommendation) will certainly amount to breach of privacy because without doing deep packet inspection, you will not be able to distinguish the content and you will not be able to find if it is voice or non-voice,” National Association of Software and Services Companies President and former telecom secretary R Chandrashekhar told.
He said it will be tough to break into the application unless keys or passwords to open application are availablewith monitoring agency.
“If it is encrypted, then you will not be able to decrypt without having all the keys,” Chandrashekhar said.
He cited telecom regulator TRAI’s point which showed cost difference between calls and messaging service offered by telecom operators and over-the-top (OTT) players like Skype, WhatsApp, Viber etc.
“This whole exercise has come about how to protect revenues of telcos. That should not be objective how to protect voice revenues of telcos or SMS revenue of telcos. The objective should be to have rationale charging methodology which hastens the process of going to Digital India”.
He said that all net neutrality debate started with suggestion that these should be regulated.
On the other hand, Telecom Watchdog, an NGO and co-petitioner in 2G spectrum case before Supreme Court, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the report is anti-consumer and bad for the business of Digital India.
“This report is a template for protecting and preserving their traditional voice revenues, which incumbents have already milked optimally and continue to do so through insidious tariff hikes. The committee’s report is against the spirit of scientific development,” Telecom Watchdog Secretary Anil Kumar said.
He demanded that the Prime Minister should issue direction to the minister (Ravi Shankar Prasad) concerned not to interfere in the prevailing system.
“The present minister is not suitable for the job he is handling and we demand his sacking for his anti-consumer and pro-operators conduct at all times,” Kumar said.
Chandrashekhar, however, appreciated the committee for suggesting no curb of application developers and recognising approach to transition from voice-centric to data-centric networks with the concomitant change in technology.
“The committee has said no curbs on app developers, messaging or instant messaging all platform that integrates these kind of services. These are step in direction. The committee has said we should not regulate them and encourage them,” Chandrashekhar said.