Congress wants Trai probed for releasing details of mailers

The Congress on Tuesday demanded a probe against the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) for revealing the names and email addresses of people who wrote to the regulator expressing their views on Net Neutrality.

Gourav Gogoi, a Congress MP from Assam, raised the issue in the Lok Sabha during Zero Hour and said the Trai had exposed activists arguing in favour of Net Neutrality to hackers. 

Mallikarjun Kharge, the Leader of the Congress in the Lower House, concurred, and demanded a statement from the Minister of Communication and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad.  

Gogoi raised the issue in the House just days after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi spoke on Net Neutrality in the Lok Sabha. Gandhi had argued in favour of protecting the “basic right of every Indian citizen to free Internet”.

“In a grave error, the Trai yesterday (on Monday) published the names and email addresses of all these 10 lakh activists. The seriousness of this crime can only be gauged if the House imagines what happens if a bank leaks the names and account details of all its account-holders,” said Gogoi.

“That is the same damage done to these 10 lakh activists. Their names and email addresses are now exposed to hackers, online criminals, cybercrimes and spamming,” said the Congress MP, adding that the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications should launch “a strict investigation” into the regulatory body and identify the lapses in the security procedures.

He questioned why the Trai had infringed upon the right of security and online privacy of 10 lakh citizens.