The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) informed the Supreme Court on Wednesday that it plans to put in place a framework to regulate Over The Top services such as Facebook, Whatsapp, Skype, Google Talk, etc., the Times of India reports. What the case is about The government was responding to a PIL filed in the SC questioning Whatsapp's privacy policy. The petition filed by Karmanya Singh Sareen claimed "Over The Top (OTT) services are governed in some respect by the provisions of Information Technology Act, 2000 and are not subject to the same regulatory mechanism that is enforced on conventional voice and messaging services provided by telecom service providers". The petitioner's advocate Madhavi Divan argued that the lack of privacy on WhatsApp not only violated the right to privacy, which is linked to the right to life under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, but also stifled right of free speech protected under Article 19(1)A. "Whatsapp projects itself as a free service and uses consumer data to sell ads on Facebook. In the case of an illiterate or semi-literate person, the person will not be able to gauge the broader implication of the terms of service. Fundamental rights cannot be barred away by gaining the consent of a user using a click. Regulations need to be put in place. Primarily because the consumers are not necessarily able to protect themselves," Divan told Medianama. "Over The Top services such as Whatsapp and Facebook are not covered under Indian laws. Unlike in the case of telecom or broadcasting, such…
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