Snooping neither possible, nor will happen: Centre amid concerns about state-owned web safety app

The government cyber security app that smartphone manufacturers have been asked to mandatorily preload on all devices cannot be used for snooping, said Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Wednesday.

“Snooping is neither possible nor will it happen through this [Sanchar Saathi] app,” Scindia told Parliament, adding that the platform is meant to protect users against cyber frauds.

The Union government on Friday directed manufacturers to preinstall the Sanchar Saathi app in new phones and to add the application to devices that have already been sold through a software update within three months.

Users will not be able to disable the app, the Ministry of Communications said in a press release on Monday.

After Opposition leaders and technology policy experts expressed concern that the directive amounted to expanded surveillance without safeguards, Scindia had claimed on Tuesday that users would be able to delete the app.

However, the digital rights organisation Internet Freedom Foundation said that Scindia’s explanation was incorrect.

Paragraph 7(b) of the order issued by the Department of Telecommunications states that the Sanchar Saathi app “cannot be ‘disabled or restricted’”, the organisation said on social media.

On Wednesday, Scindia said that the government is willing to make changes to the order based on public feedback. He added that the government wants to give users the power to help them protect themselves.

During the...

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