Department of Electronics and Information Technology (
DeitY ) has just issued following " Advisory " to matrimonial web
sites :
# Web sites will
have to ask users to enter into a " User Agreement " in which there
is a " confirmation of the
user's intent
to enter into a matrimonial alliance "
# The user
agreement will also be accompanied by the user having to furnish photo IDs to
register online, for user
verification
( I wonder , why Aadhar Card Number got
left out ! )
# These portals
are mandated to adhere to the provisions of the Information Technology Act 2000
and the Rules
made there
under including The Information Technology ( Intermediaries Guidelines ) Rules,
2011
# These web
sites should strive to achieve national and international standards
# These web
sites must display the name of the Grievance Officer as mandated by the
Intermediaries Guidelines
WHY ALL
THESE FUSS ?
According to DeitY :
# There have
been instances where users of matrimonial web sites falsify their marital
status , age , height , personality , health , social and economic status .
# In most
of the cases , victims are women who
fall prey to these fraudsters after getting introduced through fake profiles on
matrimonial portals
HOW ARE OTHERS
COPING ?
# Job Portals
Fake "
Profiles ( Resumes ) " on Job Portals are more of a " Norm "
than an exception !
Of course , most
Appointment Letters carry a clause that the appointment will get cancelled if
it is later found that a candidate has furnished wrong information / fudged
data / hidden pertinent facts , in his profile
Such annulment of a contract is not so easy in case of
a marriage , so , to an extent , DeitY is justified in its advisory
# E Commerce Platforms
Wrong
representations are also a major problem on most E Commerce Platforms , where
Buyers and Sellers exchange information about themselves . A few web sites do
carry out some sort of " Pre-Verification "
Then there are
web sites which have systems of " Online Reviews / Ratings " , of
both , the buyers and the sellers / users of services , which act as some sort
of " Credit Rating / Reputation Index " .
Of course , even in these
cases , occasionally , " Fake Reviews " get posted !
# Social
Media Web Sites
There is practically no entry-barrier , nor any
verification of the users
" Likes / Shares /
Comments / No of Connections / No of Followers " etc , decide the
reputation of a user
# Resource Sharing
Web Sites
Some minimum verification is being carried out but
" Reviews " and " User Ratings " decide the trustworthiness
WHAT ABOUT OFFLINE
MARRIAGE FRAUDS ?
I believe problem of our Society is far more with
" OFFLINE " marriage frauds , rather than ONLINE frauds !
If you have any doubt , read following article from
Wikipedia :
" India has by far the highest number of dowry related deaths in the world according to Indian National Crime Record Bureau.
In 2012, 18,233 dowry death cases were reported across India. This means a
bride was burned every 90 minutes, or dowry issues cause 1.4 deaths per year per 100,000 women in India. "
Yesterday's newspapers also gave
following data :
* No of court cases pending in
India ............ 218 lakh
* Of these , cases filed by
women................ 21 lakh ( I guess
, only a handful for fraud on Matrimonial Portals )
I don't think , Matrimonial
Portals can do anything beyond implementing DeitY advisory , just as Mobile Service Providers cannot control the usage of Mobile phone
service ( including threat-calls /
sending of obscene MMS videos , etc ) , despite collecting KYC ( Know Your
Customer ) document from its users
On other hand , MSPs do maintain - and make available
to the Govt Authorities , Call Logs of any user , if demanded by the Authorities
but I don't think Matrimonial Portals can maintain Logs of any such
transactions between its users !
Who knows , that could well be the next ADVISORY from
DeitY !
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
19 June 2016
www.hemenparekh.in / blogs
No comments:
Post a Comment