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Over-the-top (OTT) communication services like Whatsapp, Signal or Telegram could be "over regulated" with the threat of encryption being compromised, said technology policy experts after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) proposed to regulate such services in its consultation paper released last week.OTT services are currently regulated under the IT Act, which will soon be replaced by the proposed Digital India Bill.Experts said currently the government is required to give a notice under Section 69(a) of the IT Act to track calls and if OTT services are regulated by Trai, it will make it much easier for the government to intercept calls.The firms may also have to do away with end-to-end encryption, which will be a risk to user privacy and threaten operations of firms like Whatsapp in India, experts said.OTTs are currently regulated under the IT Act and adding another regulator in the mix is likely to complicate issues. India will probably have to consider a collaborative digital regulation framework like the one that the UK has set up, said Rohit Kumar, founding partner of public policy research firm The Quantum Hub.

Last Friday, Trai had issued a consultation paper on the regulatory mechanism for OTT communication services as well as their selective banning on national security grounds.

Nikhil Narendran, partner at the TMT practice of law firm Trilegal, said, "Once a licensing regime is brought in, for OTT services, the whole architecture of these services may require change".

Telecom carriers have called the regulators discussion paper on regulating OTT players such as WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal, and on selective banning of apps during instances of civil unrest a progressive step and a backing of their concerns, ET reported last week.

Amrita Choudhury, president, Cyber Caf Association of India, said, licensing OTTs will not address telco issues and that there are other viable options to support the challenges faced by the telecom industry such as rationalising spectrum charges, etc.

Further, Section 69 of the IT Act already prescribes powers for monitoring and decryption of information, he said. Procedural and Safeguards for Interception and Decryption Rules, 2009 formulated under this provision, at least have some procedural safeguards for such orders, he explained.

Indicating a compromise of end-to-end encryption like national security, public order etc. may not satisfy the proportionality and necessity test stated by the Supreme Court in the first Puttaswamy judgement, he said. Given these reasons, it is important that OTT communication services are kept outside the jurisdiction of DoT and Trai, Rizvi said.

Waghre explained that the current approach seeks to resurrect a 'licence raj' and compromise citizen's ability to communicate privately instead of being progressive and protecting the rights of individuals in India.

Such an approach also fundamentally misunderstands one of the core tenets of communications securitythat you cannot have selective compromises. Once a system that intentionally introduces a vulnerability in end-to-end encryption/private communications is created, it can be exploited by anyone, he pointed out.

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Trais proposal to regulate OTT concerning, may threaten privacy, end encryption: Experts - The Economic Times