TRAI proposal on caller ID welcome

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has made a welcome recommendation that network providers should facilitate display of the names of callers on the phone for calls made over the cellular network. The proposal is for the feature, called Calling Name Presentation (CNAP), to be rolled out as a supplementary service across the telecommunication network.

Network providers should carry out a trial and assessment in one licensed service area, and then go in for full implementation. The TRAI has also spelt out details like how and what name should be displayed and how the scheme should work in the case of bulk and business connections and telemarketers. The recommendations have yet to be formalised through guidelines and changes to licence conditions by the Department of Telecommunications.  Smartphone-makers should enable this feature on their products within a specific period from the notification of the decision. 

If it is implemented well, CNAP can help in tackling the menace of spam calls.

Phone users now have to depend on private enterprises and apps to find out where many calls come from. Spam calls are a challenge to privacy and a major means of cyber fraud, which is assuming serious proportions. The number of cyber fraud cases is fast increasing in the country.

According to McAfee, a computer security software company, around 47% of Indian respondents stated in a survey that they had received, or knew someone who was the recipient of, a voice call scam using AI-generated audio. This figure is nearly double the global average of 25%. Financial loss is not the only problem. Loss of personal identity data like Aadhaar and PAN details and situations involving loss of reputation could be other consequences.

Speaking to strangers without an identity could itself becomes a matter of stress and tension for many, especially women. 

A person who receives a call should have the right to know who is calling her. That would help her prepare to handle the call. There is a question of privacy also involved because a stranger would be intruding into the privacy of others when the call is made without disclosure of identity. Private service providers have claimed that the new system would undermine the right to privacy of the caller and have an adverse impact on women’s safety.

They say there are many reasons, some of them genuine, for callers not wanting to share their identity with the called party. But on balance, disclosure would have an advantage over non-disclosure. The companies have also said there are technical and financial issues involved in setting up the new system. But it seems the companies mainly have business considerations in opposing the proposal.