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ARTICLE · 23 AUGUST 2018

TRAI Says Personal Data Belongs To Users, Telecom Companies Mere Custodians

S.S. Rana & Co.
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Recently, Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI) gave noteworthy recommendations on ‘Privacy, Security and Ownership of Data in the Telecom Sector'.

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Recently, Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI) gave noteworthy recommendations on 'Privacy, Security and Ownership of Data in the Telecom Sector'. In the recommendations, the major recommended point was that the users have the primary right over their personal information and the entities controlling or processing this data are mere custodians who should be brought under a data protection framework to protect consumers from the misuse of their personal data.

The recommendations assume significance as issues around data protection have come into the spotlight, and privacy concerns have amplified in the wake of the recent Facebook data leak fiasco.1 Some of the proposals given by TRAI in its 77 pages of recommendations are:2

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