SPAMMERS 

3. Purpose

• Existing technologies present the number of the calling entity on the potential receiver's handset.
• Since subscribers are not given the name and identity of the caller, they sometimes choose not to answer them believing it could be unsolicited commercial communication from unregistered telemarketers. 
• This could lead to even genuine calls being unanswered.
• Additionally, there have been rising concerns about robocalls (calls made automatically using ITenabled systems with a prerecorded voice), spam calls and fraudulent calls.

• Smartphone users, at present, rely on inbuilt features or third-party apps to mark and tackle spam calls.
• However, as per the regulator, their reliance on crowdsourced data may not be reliable.

4. Privacy concerns

• It is not particularly clear how the CNAP mechanism would balance the caller's right to remain anonymous, an essential component of the right to privacy.
• To put it into perspective, an individual may opt to remain anonymous for multiple reasons, for example, whistleblowers or employees being harassed.
• Because customers accord consent only to their operators when completing the prerequisite KYC formalities for a connection, it would be ideal that a framework for the feature is developed along those lines rather than asking a centralised database operated by a third party to host and share data (one of the proposed models).
• In parallel with The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill (2022) which has a clause on deemed consent lacking adequate safeguards including sharing of data with third parties.

5. Would the provisions be enough?

• Previously, telemarketers were required to be registered as promotional numbers, making it easier to identify and block them.
• The Marketers have started deploying people who are not necessarily part of the entity's setup, but rather "at-home workers" to whom work is being outsourced.
• They are given SIM cards not registered to a particular company but rather to the individual themselves.
• Just showing the identity would not mean much, once the system (to identify and mark spammers) gets built and hundreds of people can utilise the system, only then would the system have a meaningful impact.
• The government must also invest in digital literacy, skilling citizens to navigate and use the tech better, ensuring they do not share their data indiscriminately and are informed about dangers such as financial fraud and spoofing.

For Prelims & Mains