A consortium of 61 global digital companies and organisations, comprising Mozilla, Proton and Signal, has called the new Telecommunications Bill a grave threat to democracy and the internet.

In a letter written to the union information technology minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, the group urged the Centre to immediately rescind the Telecom Bill. 

This came on the same day as the Rajya Sabha gave its assent to the Bill, which aims to overhaul the archaic Indian Telegraph Act of 1885 and other allied legislations.

Training the guns at the Centre, the signatories termed the new Bill a major threat to fundamental rights and democracy in the country. The group claimed that the proposed legislation imperils encryption, amplifies unchecked powers of the government to impose internet shutdowns, and enhances surveillance.

“… We respectfully call on the government to withdraw the Telecommunications Bill, 2023, and initiate inclusive, sustained consultation on the new draft, to incorporate rights-respecting amendments to protect encryption, privacy and security, and unimpeded access to an open, secure, and free internet,” read the letter. 

Citing the ‘immeasurable impact’ of the Bill on fundamental rights and the Indian economy,  the signatories called the introduction of the legislation in the Parliament without further consultation as ‘alarming’.

The letter also claimed that the new version of the Bill fails to incorporate provisions that were criticised in the draft, adding that it introduces new changes that ‘deepen the damage’.

Flagging provisions in the Bill that, as per the letter, authorise the interception of messages and disclosure ‘in intelligible format’, the signatories said that Bill ‘threatens’ end-to-end encryption. 

It also claimed that any change in the encryption architecture to enable data access could result in vulnerabilities that could lead to indiscriminate surveillance. 

“Any notion suggesting that decryption/access abilities can be limited to select actors is wishful thinking. The inevitable ramification is weakening of online safety and cyber resilience overall, for individuals, businesses and governments,” added the letter. 

It also claimed that empowering the Centre to notify standards on encryption could create uncertainties around the ‘ability of service providers to offer strong encryption and develop privacy-respecting innovations’.

The biggest bone of contention appears to be the provisions of the Bill that, as per the companies and organisations, grant expansive surveillance and interception powers to the government without meaningful independent and judicial oversight. 

“Further, with requirements such as the one for telecommunication services to use “verifiable biometric based identification”, the Bill facilitates incursions on fundamental rights without any reasonable limitations and safeguards, against principles of necessity and proportionality,” added the letter. 

It also claimed that the new Bill ‘entrenches existing powers’ to suspend internet services without any checks and balances. 

The letter was also signed by names such as Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), SFLC India, Digipub News India Foundation (which counts names such as The Wire, Scroll, The News Minute and Newsclick among its founding members) as well as individuals such as the Centre for Internet and Society’s Divyank Katira and Nikhil Pahwa of Medianama. 

The signatories are not alone in raising concerns over the new Bill. The tabling of the proposed rules in the Parliament sent alarm bells ringing at the offices of social media giant Meta. 

The Mark Zuckerberg-led company’s India policy head Shivnath Thukral reportedly raised concerns internally that the new Bill could bring OTT communication apps under its ambit. He also said that the Centre could, at a later date, choose to extend the proposed legislation to OTT services as well, according to a report by Moneycontrol.

While there is no specific term ‘OTT’ used in the Bill, many experts claim that the provisions in the legislation have broad definitions and allow the government to intercept messages, set standards of encryption and take control of telecom networks.

The new Bill classifies ‘message’ as a ‘sign, signal, writing, text, image, sound, video, data stream, intelligence or information sent through telecommunication’. This could bring OTT services, which are centred around text and media, under the purview of the proposed law.