Data is the new oil. It is said that whichever nation has control over data, will have control over the World. But India has allowed foreign apps to have control over its crucial and private data. These apps compromised privacy and used Indian users’ data for their own revenue generation. But, of late Indians are reclaiming this fort and brutally pushing out the foreign apps from the marketplace.
TRAI soon going to put the death nail on TrueCaller
The government is soon going to smash through the foreign private players’ hegemony in the digital market sphere. In no time, India will have a better and more indigenous solution for the identification of callers. The Indian telecom regulators are seriously deliberating to bring their own KYC-enabled caller identification system. The Department of Telecom (DoT) has provided the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) with a reference to begin consultation on bringing a mechanism for the display of KYC-based names of callers.
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TRAI Chairman PD Vaghela said. “We have just received a reference, and we will start work on this soon. Name as per KYC will appear when someone calls. The mechanism will enable name-appearing on a phone screen, in accordance with KYC done by telecom companies, as per DoT norms.”
"The mechanism will enable name-appearing on a phone screen, in accordance with KYC done by telecom companies, as per DoT norms," Trai chairman said.https://t.co/WeYAAxwl2G
— Economic Times (@EconomicTimes) May 21, 2022
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This move aims to bring greater accuracy and transparency than those apps that identify callers based on crowdsourcing. Further, this move by the telecom regulator will destroy the hegemony of TrueCaller which mostly works on crowdsourcing data.
TrueCaller: A boon or a bane
TrueCaller is a Swedish app. It is among the top 10 apps which Indians use the most. In a way, it has become a phone directory in itself. According to the company’s claim nearly half of the Indian Smartphone users are on TrueCaller. So why is India coming up with its Indian alternative? According to experts, TrueCaller instead of blocking spam calls actually makes it easier to spam people.
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As per the experts, if you have a number, you can easily find out the name and address (at least city-specific) of the person who uses that number from the TrueCaller search option. If you only have a name, even then you can search the database and get some details of that user, along with the option to seek a full number from the user.
Why India needs Aatmanirbhar Apps
India is a hub for Software developers yet we lack our own social media platforms. For example – What are the top apps Indians used the most? They are WhatsApp, Meta (Facebook), Instagram, and TrueCaller. The list includes mostly the foreign western apps which many times bypass Indian rules and laws citing their company policies or free speech. Also, these apps/platforms have their inherent Anti-India biases and do all kinds of dirty hit jobs like shadow banning, discrediting credible faces and misuse of opaque algorithms. Further, they use predatory market practices to destroy any new emerging competitor.
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It is heartening to see that this rosy period for western apps is slowly ending. Indians are in no mood to tolerate the Western app hegemony. India is gearing itself to smash through this monopoly. From social media to mass communication, Indian talents are kicking these apps out of the Indian market.
India is achieving new milestones in the digital sphere, and this move by the regulatory authority will add a new feather to India’s cap in the communication field. Indians have made their names in the software development field, and with some steps like these, Indians will conquer the App sector. This futuristic oil, i.e., data will be safer in Indian hands, and foreign companies that bypassed user privacy will soon cease to exist in the Indian app market.
