PAVAN DUGGAL

India has begun to see a war on apps. This entire episode has brought forward to the collective attention of the nation, the significance of regulating mobile applications.

When one looks at the existing law, one finds that India does not have a dedicated legal framework to govern mobile applications. It is correct that mobiles are brought under the ambit of the term ‘communication device’ under the Information Technology Act, 2000. However the entire aspect pertaining to regulating the affairs of mobile application service providers have not been defined or adequately dealt with under the Indian cyber laws. It is correct that mobile app service providers are intermediaries under the Information Technology Act, 2000 and consequently, all intermediaries are mandated to exercise due diligence while they discharge their obligations under the law. However, the specific parameters of due diligence for mobile apps service providers have not been specifically defined under the Indian Information Technology Act, 2000.

There are no adequate legal provisions to regulate activities of mobiles application service providers. This entire episode needs to be a wake-up call for India to protect the consumers of mobile application service providers, given the fact that India does not have a dedicated law on privacy in this regard.

Typically, any and every mobile application is going to