Unfazed by the Supreme Court's rejection of his petition seeking to ban WhatsApp, RTI activist Sudhir Yadav has now decided to approach the relevant government departments to pursue the matter. The apex court had on Wednesday heard and rejected Yadav's petition, instructing him to approach the appropriate government authorities to address his grievances.
The Gurgaon-based IT professional believes that the end-to-end encryption put in place by WhatsApp would allow terrorists to plan their activities without having to worry about coming under surveillance. "I will be sending my representation to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT)," Yadav told the International Business Times, India, adding that he has no intention of backing down.
Yadav added that he had already submitted his concern to the various departments. "I told the Honourable Chief Justice that I have already approached them, but they have not replied to my queries," he told IBT India. He is ready to approach the court once again if he receives no reply from the authorities.
Read More: IBT India interview with Sudhir Yadav and why he wants to ban WhatsApp.
In an earlier interview with IBT, India, Yadav had confessed that a ban on WhatsApp is the last thing he wants. He believes the app can lead to harm because WhatsApp itself doesn't have the key to decrypt messages exchanged between users. WhatsApp is owned by Facebook, which implements end-to-end encryption on its Facebook Messenger app, but possesses the key to decrypt messages exchanged between users and is willing to hand the key over to a government authority if required.
"While the ideal approach would be to ask the court to ask the government to ask WhatsApp to alter their encryption policies and hand over the decryption key if necessary, I honestly can't ask the court to do that," Yadav had said.
