#HTE
New Delhi is inching closer to recommend regulations that would require social media companies and instant messaging app providers operating in the country to help law enforcement agencies trace the messages back to their originator, two people familiar with the matter told TechCrunch.
India will submit the suggested change to the local intermediary liability rules to the nation’s apex court later this month. The suggested change, the conditions of which may be altered before it is finalized, currently says that law enforcement agencies will have to produce a court order before exercising such request, sources who have been briefed on the matter said.
But regardless, asking companies to comply with such requirement would be “devastating” for international social media companies, a New Delhi-based policy advocate said. WhatsApp executives have insisted in the past that they would have to compromise end-to-end encryption of every user to meet such a demand — a move they are willing to fight over.
The government did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday evening.
More to follow…
https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/21/india-likely-to-force-facebook-whatsapp-to-identify-the-originator-of-messages/