Govt: Wedding sites not for dating

If you say you are looking for an Indian bride on the Internet, you’d better be telling the truth. For now the Indian government will play the watchful, wary, worried parent of the girl on the World Wide Web.

The government on Thursday approved new guidelines, making it mandatory for all matrimonial websites to verify the identity and address proof of all its users. To track those who misuse matrimonial websites under the pretext of seeking a bride or a groom, the new rules mandate that matrimonial websites store the IP address of the profile creator for one year from the date of activation of the account. Moreover, these websites will have to keep checking that users don’t pose any obscene content.

The intent is clear. Only those who intend to marry should be using matrimonial sites. The new advisory bars websites from disguising dating platforms as matrimonial websites: “Service providers should make a declaration that website is strictly for matrimonial purpose only and not a dating website and should not be used for posting obscene material.”

Matrimonial websites will also need to confirm the “user’s intent to enter into matrimonial alliance” and “confirm that the user information is correct to the best his or her knowledge” when they register to join the platform. Websites will have to issue a list of legally-verifiable documents that will serve as proof of identity.

IT and telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has approved the advisory.