back to article Indian court directs chat app Telegram to disclose details of copyright infringers

A ruling handed down from the Delhi High Court this week declared that Telegram must hand over information such as IP addresses, mobile numbers, and devices used by channels on the platform involved in copyright infringement. A copy of the ruling is available on Indian legal news blog Livelaw [PDF], with judge Prathiba …

  1. VoiceOfTruth

    Copyright infringer pot calls kettle black

    India is one giant copyright infringing territory. As Oxford and Cambridge and others found out a few years ago.

  2. Charlie Clark Silver badge

    Unenforceable

    As long as Telegram doesn't transact any business in India this is unenforceable. This is presumably know to all concerned and might, as in the UK and elsewhere give the politicians the incentive to draft more draconian legislation which might also let them see who's having a tipple in Delhi or going to a mosque…

    1. Ken Hagan Gold badge

      Re: Unenforceable

      Yes, but Telegram might not be so keen on something that *is* enforceable -- all Indian ISPs being required to block Telegram's servers.

      1. ChoHag Silver badge

        Re: Unenforceable

        That's been tried. Russia knocked everything *except* Telegram off the internet in their attempt to silence it.

        The internet does not approve of censorship, neither that of chat apps, nor media platforms nor comment forum icons. Even French ones.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Unenforceable

      In August 2021, TechCrunch reported that India was Telegram's largest market with a 22% share of total installs coming from the region.[wikipedia]

      1. Charlie Clark Silver badge

        Re: Unenforceable

        Install base != market. Of course, India is going to be big for any piece of software. But that doesn't necessarily make it a large market as many companies have found out to their cost.

  3. IGotOut Silver badge

    Wtf?

    "Citing clause 8.3, Sibal noted: "If Telegram receives a court order that confirms you're a terror suspect, we may disclose your IP address"

    That has to be the lamest defence in any court ever.

  4. Graham 25

    Back to the old RIM/Blackberry issue

    I cant recall exactly what happened but in the early teens, India tried to strong arm RIM into disclosing the encryption keys for BB devices used in India - and I thin k it got nowhere as the market in India wanted BB's but they couldnt force anyone in Canada to comply.

    The outcome will be no different because the Indian government, like most governments, is always well behind the public and private sector when it comes to circumventing nonsense government 'orders'.

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