The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has decided to offer a bonanza for spammers. In a demonstration of gross incompetence, it has made public email addresses from over a million submissions received towards the consultation paper on regulatory framework for OTT services on its website.
The comments sent to the consultation paper are divided into three sections, and includes service providers, service providers' association, and comments from stakeholders, where a majority of the responses are filed. The submissions from stakeholders are divided into date-wise blocks, running upto its April 24th deadline. Most of the pages were inaccessible to load due to heavy server load. However, we were able to download a 3 MB file of all the emails sent from 27th March to 10th April.
The data published clearly points to how All India Bakchod and SavetheInternet coalition turned the volume up on the campaign on April 11th, when the site and video went online.
This move is already creating a backlash from net neutrality activists, who are duly reminding TRAI that spammers are likely to harvest email addresses of all the netizens who shared their feedback on the consultation paper.
Interestingly, email addresses of service providers like BSNL and Airtel haven't been posted on the site.
Thanks to TRAI, spammers and database sellers now have email ids of a cohort of 1M+ Indians who (largely) support #NetNeutrality.
— Rohin Dharmakumar (@r0h1n) April 27, 2015
By this avoidable lapse, TRAI has invited bulk spammers from around the world to harvest over a million emails. Coming from the agency that regulates telecommunication in India, it is nothing short of shocking.
TRAI hasn't apologised or taken down the content published on the paper yet.
More on the net neutrality debate:
- Digital Crusaders Flood TRAI's Inbox With A Million Messages
- COAI Counters Net Neutrality Campaign With #SabkaInternet
- Rahul Gandhi Takes Up Net Neutrality Cause In Parliament, Annoys Government To No End
- Airtel's Net Neutrality Pledge Questioned By SaveTheInternet.in Coalition
- 'Free Should Not Be Confused With Freedom', Writes Odisha CM In Letter To TRAI Chief
- Blow To Internet.org As Indian Internet Companies Begin To Withdraw
- Airtel Stock Plunges After Flipkart's Decision To Move Away From Zero Platform
- DoT Forms Committee To Look Into Net Neutrality Issue
- Flipkart CEO Compares Net Neutrality Backlash To Apartheid
Net Neutrality Campaign Goes Viral As Netizens Answer Clarion Call To Save The Internet
All India Bakchod Weighs In On The Net Neutrality Debate
- 8 Indian Tech Startups Speak On Airtel Zero And Net Neutrality
Blow To Net Neutrality As Airtel Launches Marketing Platform
Act Now: India's Telecos And Regulators Are Trying To Kill Open Internet
Indian Regulator Invites Consultation To Regulate WhatsApp, Viber, Other OTT Services
Blog: Mandating US-Style Network Neutrality Makes Little Sense For India
Blog: Is Net Neutrality More Important Than Internet Access? Why Babajob Is On Internet.org
Odisha MP Tathagata Satpathy Writes Letter To TRAI Chairman Supporting Net Neutrality
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