India mandates preloading of unremovable government app on all phones, raising privacy concerns among rights groups and opposition politicians.
NEW DELHI: India has ordered smartphone manufacturers to pre-install a government-run cyber security app that cannot be removed, a move raising significant privacy concerns.
The directive gives manufacturers 90 days to ensure the ‘Sanchar Saathi’ app is pre-installed on all mobile handsets manufactured or imported for use in the country.
The app must be readily visible and accessible during initial device setup, and its functionalities cannot be disabled or restricted.
Authorities say the app, which has a user base of 1.16 billion mobile phone users, will better protect citizens from fraud.
Its functions include allowing users to block and track lost or stolen phones and identify fake mobile subscriptions made in their name.
Government figures show the app has already helped trace more than 2.6 million phones.
However, the Internet Freedom Foundation advocacy group called the order a “deeply worrying expansion of executive control over personal digital devices”.
“The state is asking every smartphone user in India to accept an open ended, updatable surveillance capability on their primary personal device,” the IFF said in a statement.
For devices already in the market, manufacturers and importers must endeavour to push the app through software updates.
Cyber security analyst Nikhil Pahwa said the rules were “clearly” an invasion of privacy.
“How do we know this app isn’t used to access files and messaging on our device?” he said on X.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s opponents in the Congress party demanded an immediate rollback, calling the move unconstitutional.
“A pre-loaded government app that cannot be uninstalled is a dystopian tool to monitor every Indian,” Congress politician KC Venugopal said on X.
In August, Russia issued a similar directive ordering manufacturers to include a new messaging platform called Max on all new phones and tablets.
