The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on December 11 issued an advisory to VPN (Virtual Private Network) service providers and online intermediaries, warning them against permitting access to websites that publish personal data of Indian citizens without consent.

The move comes after the ministry took note of platforms such as proxyearth.org and leakdata.org, which allegedly allowed users to look up sensitive details of citizens including names, addresses, phone numbers and email IDs -- simply by entering an Indian mobile number.

Citing "serious" risks to user safety and privacy, MeitY has said that such websites are operating in violation of Indian law. The advisory notes that these sites can also be accessed through virtual private networks and stresses that in

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