Telecom Department made rules strict
DoT New Rules: The central government has issued new guidelines tightening cyber rules. According to them, WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram and other app-based messaging services will work only with an active SIM. All companies providing app-based communication services in India will have to submit a compliance report to the Department of Telecommunications within 120 days of the issuance of the direction. The Centre’s latest directive means that these messaging services will work only if the SIM card in the user’s device such as mobile phone/tablet/other is present or in active state.
Actually, many times you remove the SIM from the phone, but if that phone is connected to a Wi-Fi, then WhatsApp or other messaging apps continue to run as before, even if the SIM has been removed from it, in such a situation it can sometimes become an ideal situation for cyber crime. To avoid this, the government has taken this step.
Department of Telecommunications warned
The Department of Telecommunications has warned that if the rules are not followed, action will be taken under the Telecommunication Act-2023, Telecom Cyber Security Rules and other laws. This directive will affect users’ access to services of all messaging apps in India, including WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, Aarattai, Snapchat, ShareChat, JioChat, Josh.
Why was it necessary to issue instructions
In a directive issued on November 28, the Department of Telecommunications said it has come to the notice of the central government that some app-based messaging services that use mobile numbers to identify subscribers/users allow users to use the services even without an active SIM card in the device. The department said that in such a situation it had become necessary to issue this instruction.
Old rules were being used for cyber crimes
It became necessary to tighten these rules because the functioning of messaging apps independently of the SIM was creating a security risk which was also being used for cyber crimes. In this, groups operating from foreign countries were misusing the facility of continuing chat through these apps even after changing the SIM or deactivation and due to not being linked to the SIM, it was becoming difficult to trace them. Due to this, the government has been forced to take this precautionary step.
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