TRAI action against pesky calls: Digital Consent Acquisition (DCA)

Subject :Science and technology

Section: Computer

Key points:

Telcos are coming together to form a new platform on the lines of TRAI’s DCA circular.
DCA:
- A unified platform that will allow users to give consent to specific service providers like Banks, Utilities to send messages, while requiring the telecom companies(telcos) to block all calls and messages that the user has not consented to.
- At present the consent status is maintained by the third parties (Banks, financial services etc) themselves and thus no way for telcos to verify if consent is being followed.
- The present system also did not allow users to revoke consent on some centralized platform.
- Will be different from Do Not Disturb (DND) system that made user consent as the default and user had to apply to put their number on the DND list.
The consent data will be shared on a Digital Ledger Platform for ‘scrubbing’ by the telecom companies thus ensuring that consumers don’t get pesky calls.
Initially banking, insurance, finance and traded-related sectors shall be on-boarded.