LI Network
Published on: November 03, 2023 at 15:49 IST
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has informed the Supreme Court that when a cellular mobile telephone number is deactivated due to non-usage or upon the subscriber’s request, it is not reassigned to a new subscriber for a minimum period of 90 days.
A bench presided over by Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice SVN Bhatti noted that it is the responsibility of the previous subscriber to take necessary measures to safeguard their privacy.
The Court also clarified that a subscriber can prevent the misuse of WhatsApp data by deleting their WhatsApp account associated with the former phone number and erasing WhatsApp data stored on the local device memory, cloud, or drive.
WhatsApp provided information to the Court, stating that in the case of recycled phone numbers, they monitor account inactivity. If an account remains inactive for 45 days and is subsequently activated on a different mobile device, the old account data is removed.
With these observations, the Court has concluded a writ petition filed in 2021, which raised concerns about the potential misuse of mobile numbers once they are disconnected or deactivated.
