DoT to block the ‘WePhone’ app in India

The intelligence agency has requested the DoT to block the ‘WePhone’ app which allows callers identity to remain hidden. As reported by IANS, the Communication and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “A reference from an intelligence agency was received by the Department of Telecommunications to block the ‘WePhone App’ which facilitates its subscriber to spoof the Calling Line Identification (CLI) through Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) platform.”

A call initiated using ‘WePhone’ is routed via its server located abroad and thus, it becomes difficult to identify or locate the actual calling number of user. Earlier also DoT has made a technical committee, which observed that a number of computer or mobile applications offer the facility to spoof the CLI over internet.

Prasad also commented, “Based on the recommendations of the committee, the matter was taken up with the Group Coordinator, Department of Electronics & Information Technology, who issues the direction for blocking such identified websites, as reported by IANS.