Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

Residents of India became very angry in 2015 when the Indian government announced preliminary plans allowing some companies to pay a higher price than others to have their sites connect to the Internet at a faster rate, according to the BBC. The result of this plan would have meant that those without lots of money would have their sites connect at a slower rate. Many argued that those benefiting from this plan, called net neutrality, would be large telecom companies.

The plan may have very well succeeded except that a group of comedians took to the YouTube to publicize the government’s plan. The news of the plan quickly spread over Facebook and Twitter resulting in many people writing emails to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India who chose to publish them. When publishing them, the authority included people’s email addresses and often their names and other pertinent information, according to Have I Been Pawned.

After the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s actions were carried out, tens of thousands of citizens’ information were published publicly.