Block encrypted mail service Proton Mail, Karnataka high court orders Centre

The order was passed by a bench of justice M Nagaprasanna on a petition by Bengaluru based firm, M Moser Design seeking a direction to the union ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) to ban the encrypted mail service after its employees and clients received emails with morphed pictures, AI generated deepfake images, and sexually explicit content.

In its order, the high court, which had previously reserved the verdict, told the government “to issue proceedings in terms of Section 69A of IT Act 2008 read with rule 10 of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking Access Of Information By Public) Rules, 2009 to block Proton Mail.”

The high court’s detailed order is awaited.

During arguments earlier, additional solicitor general Aravind Kamath told the high court that while the investigating officer could follow the provisions of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita and request the court to issue a letter rogatory in line with the ‘mutual legal assistance treaty’ signed between India and Switzerland, the central government would comply with any specific blocking order issued by the high court.