Understanding intermediary guidelines wrt encryption from the lens of consumer welfare

This paper brings forth a consumer perspective on the recently notified Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (IT rules), in India, which place obligations on Significant Social Media Intermediaries (SSMI) to enable identification of originators o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:CSI TRANSACTIONS ON ICT 2021, Vol.9 (3), p.159-164
Main Authors: Narayan, Sidharth, Kulkarni, Amol
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Digital media
Guidelines
Information technology
Parameter identification
Privacy
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Summary:This paper brings forth a consumer perspective on the recently notified Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (IT rules), in India, which place obligations on Significant Social Media Intermediaries (SSMI) to enable identification of originators of certain content on their platforms. While it is important to fix accountability in case of misuse of digital platforms for spreading problematic content, the same should not risk consumer welfare on parameters of privacy and data protection. The requirement of identifying originators of content is likely to weaken End to End Encryption. This may in turn infringe upon the privacy of consumers, thereby denting their trust on data driven digital technology enabled services. Section 1 of the paper gives a background to the run-up to the revised IT rules, while Sect. 2 gives an overview of encryption. Section 3 deep dives into a consumer perspective on encryption, and explains the likely adverse impact of mandatory originator identification on consumer welfare. The paper concludes with Sect. 4, which gives a few recommendations for the way forward.
ISSN:2277-9078
2277-9086
DOI:10.1007/s40012-021-00339-2