According to reports, the Indian government has instructed smartphone makers to pre-install a state-owned cybersecurity app on all brand-new devices in an effort to combat online fraud and other crimes.
The companies are given 90 days to ensure that the app, known as Sanchar Saathi or “communication companion,” is pre-installed on new mobile phones with the condition that users can’t disable it, according to the November 28 order, whose existence was revealed by Reuters news agency and Indian media on Monday, three days after it was privately sent to manufacturers.
According to the reports, phone companies are also required to push a software update for the app’s installation on devices already in use by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
The 1.2 billion smartphone users in India have the option to install the app, which was released in January.
The government claims the app is necessary to stop “serious endangerment” of cybersecurity caused by duplicate or spoof IMEI numbers, which are assigned to each device to block network access for phones reported stolen.
Users have downloaded the app more than five million times since its launch, according to government figures, Reuters reported, helping to stop more than 3.7 million stolen or lost mobile devices and preventing more than 30 million phony connections.
According to the statistics, the app has helped recover more than 700, 000 lost phones over the past decade.
Apple is “probably going to resist.”
However, according to Reuters, the order is likely to face opposition from US tech giant Apple, which has previously fought with India’s telecoms regulator over a government-approved antispam mobile app, as well as privacy advocates.
A source with direct knowledge of the situation informed the news agency that Apple has internal guidelines for preventing anyone from downloading any third-party apps, even those that are developed by government-owned companies, before selling a device.
Research director at Counterpoint, a company that studies technology market, Tarun Pathak, told Reuters that Apple had previously turned down requests for government assistance in this regard.
They might bargain and request an option to nudge users toward installing the app, according to Pathak, “so it’s likely to seek a middle ground.”
The order “effectively removes user consent as a meaningful choice,” according to Mishi Choudhary, a lawyer who represents internet advocacy issues, the agency reported.
The DoT’s reports were not immediately addressed.
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Source: Aljazeera
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