The Trai had sought public comments till April 24 on draft recommendations for over-the-top services like WhatsApp and Skype as well as on net neutrality.
From internal mails of a software multi-national corporation and foreign junket proposal to a private wedding album, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has made everything public in the name of 10 lakh (1 million) comments it got on draft net neutrality proposals.
The Trai had sought public comments till April 24 on draft recommendations for over-the-top services like WhatsApp and Skype as well as on net neutrality.
However, all these comments were invited to a common official email id of the regulator and those having been made public include a number of mails that have no relation to these draft proposals and even include some personal and other official mails sent to Trai.
These ‘comments’ interestingly include an official mail trail from IT company Oracle sent to Trai advisor, seeking to test compliance of its software installed for do-not-disturb service.
"It is important to maintain, manage and substantiate with Oracle Licensing policy. Since we have not received any feedback and details from your end, this is a matter of concern to us.
"Such delays make us believe that the ministry of communication and IT -- National Don't Call Register India is not giving this serious compliance issue its due importance," the Oracle e-mail, which was made public, said.
"While Trai has well arranged comments of telecom operators and leading industry bodies under separate heads, it seems that the regulator did not even get time to look at public comments.
"I doubt if it will lend its ears to the public before taking decision on net neutrality," India Infosec Consortium chief executive officer Jiten Jain said.
IIC is a group of 4,000 IT professionals which works on cyber-security and Internet governance matters.
The regulator has also made public an online photo album of a private wedding with its password.
Mails send to Trai Advisor on Quality of Service from people to register complaint against telecom operators -- Airtel, Vodafone, BSNL, Reliance Communication, DTH operator Tata Sky, mobile company Xiaomi -- have been also dumped among public comments on net-neutrality.
One Charles Felix warned Trai on discriminatory price for Internet based VoIP and said if heavy Internet traffic are of concern then call centres in India should be shut down as they are offering technical support using Voice over Internet Protocol.
Harini Sudersan, a lawyer from California, in his 10-page comment to Trai said that there is symbiotic relationship between OTT and telecom operators business and suggested ‘the solution is not to suppress technology and innovation, but to encourage more technology and more innovation’.
