Wrong call

DoT asking for mass data records is worrying

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the industry body that represents telecom service providers, has questioned repeated requests for mass call data records (CDRs) by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). According to the industry body, CDRs were sought by the DoT for February 2, 3 and 4, for every mobile subscriber in Delhi. Similar mass CDR requests have been made for specific days in recent months in the Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and Punjab circles. This leads to apprehensions about a mass surveillance programme, violating the privacy of citizens on a