Freedom from spam: DoT to erect guard wall to prevent flood within 100 days of new govt

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After roti, kapda, makaan comes spam. To rescue the common man from possible inundation by spam messages, the Centre is putting together an action plan to be rolled out within 100 days of the new cabinet taking oath, Business Standard has reported. According to the report, the plan of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) consists in checking spam calls and messages through multiple interventions that involves setting up an inter-ministerial panel to coordinate seamless policy against spam.

Incidentally, the world’s first email containing the first spam was sent on May 3, 1978. The distinction of inaugurating a new class of messages belongs to Gary Thuerk, a marketing professional of US-based computer company Digital Equipment Corporation, who sent it to promote their DECSYSTEM-20 product. The world’s first unsolicited message, too, provoked a uniformly negative reaction.

Apart from the ministerial body, the war against spam would include updating of the Chakshu portal, deployment of AI-based digital consent-acquisition (DCA) technology by telecom companies, officials told the newspaper on conditions of anonymity. The hurried action plan follows the exhortation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had, earlier in the year, directed the ministers to work out a road map that would be rolled out in the first 100 days of the new government.

Relief from the constant bombardment of citizens by spam which is, in most cases, sent by unregistered telemarketers, was labelled as one of the focus areas.

The Chakshu portal is a crucial weapon in the battle against spam, since it enables citizens to report mobile numbers from where fraudulent communication is received via text messages and/or voice or social media such as WhatsApp. The service was launched in March and it enables a verification of numbers reported. If the verification fails, the number is disconnected.

“The platform is foolproof but some people have raised some queries on whether it can be misused by mischievous elements. The portal will be updated to further tighten watch not only on fraud but also large volumes of spam that originate from certain numbers,” an official told the newspaper.

The panel that would include the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and the TRAI is expected to present guidelines for phone calls made over the internet and WhatsApp, which forms a key area of concern, officials said.

The department is also planning to step up the Digital Consent Acquisition platform by telecom companies which was mandated by TRAI in 2023. A unified platform to seek, maintain, and revoke consent given by customers on receiving commercial communication from businesses, DCA was set up to lend consumers control over who can send them text messages. But the progress on this issue was found to be extremely tardy by the telecom regulator.

While TRAI flagged the slow pace by Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd in taking private businesses into the system, the telcos put the blame at the doorstep of the industry. The net result – now there there is no unified system for customers to provide or revoke consent.

Usually, the starting point of the trouble is companies purchase bulk SMS from telemarketers to send texts to customers. In such a situation, it becomes impossible for telecom service providers to check the veracity of consent.