To ensure that the malicious rumours, which led to a mass exodus of
north-eastern people in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu,
Maharashtra, etc, don’t cause further panic, the government has
unilaterally banned bulk
SMSes and MMSes for 15 days across the country.
“We have banned bulk SMSes and MMSes for 15 days,” Union Home Secretary R K Singh told PTI.
The decision was taken after reports of widespread circulation of
SMSes and MMSes containing misleading information about Assam violence
and threats to people of northeastern origin living in other parts of
the country. The Home Ministry has asked Department of
Telecommunications to implement the order through the telecom operators.
From Sunday onwards, no one will be able to send more than 5 SMSes in
one go and more than 20 KB of data through mobile phones during the ban
period.
Home Secretary also said security agencies were monitoring social
networking websites and trying to identify people who were using such
platforms to spread rumours. Singh said exodus of people from the
northeast from different cities has stopped marginally and states like
Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh were reaching out to them to allay their
apprehensions.
Students of North Eastern states showing threat messages on the mobile phone to Congress MP Oscar Fernandes in Mangalore. PTI
While the move to ban text messaging might prove marginally
effective, there is no doubt that with several free messaging apps such
as Whatsapp, iMessages for iPhones and iPads, BlackBerry Messenger for
BB smartphones, the ban will be difficult to implement.
According to this Times of India report, the order has caused confusion amongst telecom operators. The question for telecomm operators: what exactly is bulk
SMS—which typically refers to commercial SMSs used mainly by
telemarketers. Some say the government order aims at stopping a single
SMS from being sent to more than five people from one source.
The govt’s aim is clear with this order: ensure that no one party can
send mass messages to people to cause panic. The problem: the modes of
messaging are just so many that a cap limit won’t be sufficient. A ban
on data mobile limit is obviously aimed at ensuring that no morphed
pictures or videos are sent out to cause more panic but once again users
can override it by using wi-fi.
Even the most basic feature phones such as Nokia 112,
has support for online messaging such as Facebook, Nimbuzz, etc. And
this phone costs only Rs 2,647. Nearly every phone manufacturer, even if
they don’t produce a smartphone tries to ensure that some sort of app
for free messaging is available for users. So unlike in the past when
only few could share images or videos via a phone, today it’s almost
impossible to find someone who’s phone doesn’t have these capabilities.
This makes the task of the government even more complicated.
For the government, the problem of malicious text messaging means
that it has to step in with some sort of control to ensure that more
people don’t fall prey to false rumours. But what makes this so
difficult to curb is the fact there are various modes and methods of
subverting such a ban.
A ban may work only partially in curbing rumours. The real task at
hand for the government is to convince the people that these are indeed
false rumours and that their security is not at risk.
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