By NewsGram Staff Writer

As the debate on Net Neutrality issue gets heated up, a discussion paper proffered by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) stated that mobile applications providing free internet-based calls and messaging services can be a threat to individual and national security.

The paper, which was put forth in public domain on March 27, 2015, focused on imploring comments from all stakeholders for framing rules on net neutrality and on regulation of Over-the-Top service providers such as Skype, Whatsapp, Google Talk and Viber.

"Most applications can trace the user's location for underlying processes (such as GPS apps finding the nearest restaurants). This information may be used to commit a crime, or the location itself may be the target of a crime. Such threats can impact the nation's security and financial health," stated the TRAI paper.

It was also added by the paper that the so-called free apps actually share mobile apps users' personal information with various third party developers, which can pose serious threats. "Recently, Facebook manipulated information posted on 689,000 users' home pages and found it could make people feel more positive or negative through a process of emotional contagion," said the paper.