Perry4Law
Organisation (P4LO) is on the forefront of providing
various techno
legal trends of India since 2006. The latest to add to
this list are Cyber
Security Trends and Developments in India 2014 and Telecom
Related Trends and Development in India 2014. The cyber
security trends of India 2014 have also been covered here1
and here2.
In this work, Perry4Law’s
Techno Legal Base (PTLB) is providing the summary of the
telecom trends of India 2014. The telecom trend of India in the year
2014 witnessed a combination of progressive and regressive steps
being taken by Indian Government.
On the progressive side the Telecom Commission of
India has allowed satellite
based mobile services in India in the year 2014. On the
regressive side, the Indian Government has failed to protect civil
liberties in cyberspace once again. In fact, telecom
operator Vodafone revealed use of secret
wires for government e-surveillance and eavesdropping
worldwide, including in India.
Indian Department of Telecommunications (DoT)
promised to investigate
govt snooping allegations of Vodafone but it failed to do so till the
end of December 2014. The dangerous central
monitoring system (CMS) of India was also activated
without any legal framework and Parliamentary oversight.
Similarly, the redundant and outdated telecom
related laws remained on the statue book in the year2014. For
instance, the telegraph
and cyber
law of India remained outdated, colonial and draconian in
the year 2014. Similarly, encryption
related dedicated laws in India are also missing till the
end of December 2014.
Further, new lawmaking was also missing in the year
2014. For instance, there is no dedicated laws
regarding cell phones and their dealings in India and the
same continued till the end of December 2014 as well. In particular,
the cell
site data location laws in India and privacy issues are
still not redressed by Indian Government so far.
India is also one of the countries where phone
tapping is possible without any court order/warrant. This is a
serious civil liberty violation that continued in the year 2014. A
lawful
and constitutional interception law in India is urgently
needed. Privacy
rights in India in the information era (PDF) have still
not been recognised by Indian Government.
Overall, the telecom trends of India in the year
2014 were far from satisfactory. Rather they were on the negative
side of development that must be taken care of by Indian Government
in the year 2015.
Source: Telecom Blog.
