Thursday, December 12, 2013

Tata Teleservices Limited (TTL) And Airtel Are Violating IT Act 2000

What is common between foreign technology companies and websites and their Indian counterparts? The answer is non compliance with Indian laws especially the cyber law of India. Indian telecom companies like Tata Teleservices Limited and Airtel are openly flouting the  cyber law due diligence requirements of India and complaints against them have been filed at Department of Telecommunication (DoT) and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

The proposed e-mail policy of India has been suggested to decrease the dependence upon foreign e-mail service providers. However, before we do that we must make our own house in order. If companies like Tata Teleservices Limited and Airtel openly disregard the laws of India what respect we can expect from foreign companies.

Indian government has been trying to force companies like Facebook, Google, etc to establish servers in India. Similarly, the Internet telephony and VOIP service providers must establish servers in India very soon. However, isn’t it partiality and adopting double standards on the part of Indian government by putting pressure upon foreign companies and leaving Indian companies untouched?

By not complying with the Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules, 2011 (PDF) companies like Tata Teleservices Limited and Airtel are actually committing cyber crimes and cyber contraventions. As per the Information Technology Act, 2000 both these companies and the defaulting officials are liable to be prosecuted. Even their telecom licences can be suspended/cancelled and fine be imposed by DoT.

When Tata Teleservices Limited and Airtel are least bothered about Indian laws we can never expect compliance from foreign companies. Indian government in general and DoT in particular must take punitive and stringent action against Tata Teleservices Limited and Airtel to set an example before the whole world. Otherwise, we can keep on lamenting about non compliance of Indian laws by national and international companies.