The lawsuit was filed by Nita Singh and KD Campus. The former is the author of several books, courses and lectures, and the latter runs coaching centers. Both copyright holders have repeatedly complained to Telegram about channels sharing pirated content. In most cases, Telegram removed them, but the service refused to identify the violators. Therefore, the copyright holders asked the court to intervene in the situation.
The legal battle culminated this week with the Delhi High Court ruling ordering Telegram to identify several copyright infringers. This includes the transmission of phone numbers, IP addresses, and e-mail addresses.
The order was given despite fierce resistance. One of Telegram’s main defenses was that users’ data was stored in Singapore, which prohibited the decryption of personal information under local privacy laws. The Court did not agree with this argument as the current infringing activity was related to Indian works and possibly to Indian users. And it can be accessed from India even if the data is stored elsewhere. The Supreme Court notes that there is an exception if the personal information is required for an investigation or legal action, adding that disclosing personal information would not be a violation of Singapore’s privacy law.
Telegram referred to the Indian constitution, which protects people’s privacy as well as the right to freedom of speech and expression. However, this defense also failed. Finally, Telegram argued that it is not necessary to disclose its users’ data as it acts as a service medium. Again, the court did not agree.
It remains to be seen how this story will end.
Source: Ferra
