{"id":35802,"date":"2025-01-20T18:41:56","date_gmt":"2025-01-20T13:11:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=35802"},"modified":"2025-01-20T18:41:57","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T13:11:57","slug":"ledger-technology-to-tackle-spam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/20-01-2025\/ledger-technology-to-tackle-spam","title":{"rendered":"Ledger Technology to Tackle Spam"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/Cybersecurity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) will be using <strong>distributed ledger technology (DLT)<\/strong> to register <strong>spam preferences from customers.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Spam rules will be<strong> tightened to make commercial messages traceable, <\/strong>the TRAI has indicated.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Spam messages and calls<\/strong> refer to unwanted, unsolicited communications typically sent for advertising, scams, or other malicious purposes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Concerns of the Spam<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Privacy Invasion: <\/strong>Spam calls and messages often lead to a breach of personal privacy, as they can involve unwanted sharing of personal information.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Scams and Fraud: <\/strong>Many spam messages and calls are used to deceive individuals into sharing sensitive data (like bank details), leading to financial loss and identity theft.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Overload and Disruption: <\/strong>The sheer volume of spam messages and calls can overwhelm users, disrupt daily life, and cause annoyance.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Regulatory Challenges:<\/strong> While there are laws like the TRAI guidelines to curb spam, enforcement is often weak, and new tactics from spammers outpace regulatory efforts.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Lack of Awareness: <\/strong>Many people, especially in rural areas, are unaware of how to block or report spam, making them more vulnerable to scams.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Regulations of Spam in India:\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The TRAI regulates the telecom industry, and its main role is in regulating Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC), the official name for spam.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>DND Registry: <\/strong>Starting in 2007, the regulator implemented a <strong>do-not-disturb (DND) registry,<\/strong> if a telecom customer signs up to the DND registry, they are not supposed to get any spam calls or SMS messages.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>TCCCPR 2018:<\/strong> Under the Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulation (TCCCPR), 2018, telemarketers who called or sent messages to DND-registered customers would receive warnings.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In case and if enough warnings accumulated, they would be blacklisted from sending messages to telecom operators.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In 2024, TRAI <strong>mandated<\/strong> that DND reporting be made available on every telecom provider\u2019s app.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Distributed ledger technology (DLT)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>TRAI has mandated the telcos to use a blockchain ledger, also known as a <strong>distributed ledger.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Blockchain as a technology allows for so-called immutability, which means that every stakeholder involved in a transaction has a<strong> reliable, un-tamperable version of the same data.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Features:\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It will store a constantly-updated list of approved senders of SMS messages.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Telcos would also be required to approve specific formats of messages.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This has been one of the most stringent rules that have been issued to fight SMS spam anywhere in the world.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Significance:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This will make sure that telcos would have a complete record of who issued a message before it is sent to an SMS gateway.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This was aimed at plugging a crucial flaw in the system that would allow anyone to register on the blockchain solutions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Other Measures to Flag Spams:\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Sanchar Saathi Portal: <\/strong>The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has launched the Sanchar Saathi portal, which has a reporting site called <strong>Chakshu<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>DoT has partnered with law enforcement, banks, and other stakeholders in order to accept <strong>reports of \u201csuspected fraudulent\u201d calls and messages.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It has moved to <strong>cancel lakhs of numbers<\/strong> that are associated with unauthorised telemarketers and scammers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It also set up the<strong> Telecom Security Operation Centre<\/strong> at its New Delhi headquarters <strong>to monitor suspicious internet traffic <\/strong>in real time.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Firms like Airtel<\/strong> have taken steps to declare suspicious calls using Artificial Intelligence as \u201cSuspected Spam,\u201d a move that is being replicated by other telcos as well.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The telco has also started labelling international calls on smartphones.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/how-is-trai-and-the-govt-combating-spam-explained\/article69117205.ece#:~:text=What%20role%20does%20blockchain%20play,approved%20senders%20of%20SMS%20messages.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) will be using distributed ledger technology (DLT) to register spam preferences from customers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35802"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35803,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35802\/revisions\/35803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}