The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) directed all access providers to deploy Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) based UCC_Detect system (unsolicited commercial communication, i.e. spam detection system) on June 13. This system is meant to identify and act against senders of commercial communication not registered per the provisions of Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulations, 2018 (TCCCPR-2018). Some context please: The TCCCPR-2018 allows the authority to regulate unsolicited commercial communications, and under it, the authority has issued multiple directives on spam earlier. This includes mandating the use of AI spam filters for calls and messages, issuing directions to stop the misuse of commercial message templates, and urging the creation of a Digital Consent Acquisition (DCA) facility (a unified consent-seeking platform) through which service providers and principal entities (banks, business entities, real state companies, etc.) can seek customer consent for promotional calls and messages. Why it matters: Spam is a major problem for telecom customers - TRAI mentions how unregistered telemarketers (UTMs) send people messages with fraudulent links and telephone numbers to trap them into sharing personal information and scam them, leading to financial losses. Previous methods to regulate spam, such as the Do Not Disturb (DND) application that the TRAI created for filtering spam have proven to be ineffective, with many saying that they continued to receive spam even after using the app. Similarly, based on TRAI’s own admission, it asked access providers to implement detection systems earlier, but those systems didn’t end up being fully capable of catching spam because UTMs continuously evolve…
