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In addition to this, the Controller of Certifying Authorities(CCA)
also has the power to request information from providers. Earlier,
the CCA in reply to an application that we had filed under the RTI
Act informed us that the CCA has received 103 requests for
investigation from all agencies of the Government of India and State
governments in the last three years and that the CCA has issued
notices to Intermediaries in 73 instances. The CCA had in fact fined
Yahoo for not complying with its order to provide user information.
The Writ petition filed by Yahoo before the High Court of Delhi
challenging this order and Rule 7(3) of the Intermediaries
Guidelines Rules is pending.
Such broad provisions in the law, combined with the absence of a
legislation which restricts such requests, has resulted in the
Government and its agencies sending huge number of user data
requests to service providers. These requests are made by agencies
ranging from the Home Ministry to the local police stations. The
huge numbers show that there clearly is a need for proper safeguards
to be built into the system to protect the right to privacy of citizens.
The sheer number of telephone tapping orders issued per month
shows that the current mechanism consisting of top level officials
for reviewing tapping orders, which is supposed to be a safeguard
has been reduced to a mere formality.
There is an urgent need to evolve a proper legal framework to
protect privacy of citizens when Government agencies request user
information and monitor telephonic and electronic communication.
The Supreme Court in the PUCL case had framed various guidelines
to be observed while issuing orders to tap telephones. The review
mechanism by which the tapping orders are reviewed by a team
consisting of the Cabinet Secretary, Secretary in the Ministry of
Law
Affairs
and
Secretary
of
the
Department
of
Telecommunications in the Centre and a similar mechanism in the
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