India’s government, amid an uproar over privacy, has revoked an order quietly issued to smartphone makers to pre-install a state-run security app.
New Delhi — India’s government revoked an order on Wednesday that had directed smartphone makers such as Apple and Samsung to install a state-developed and owned security app on all new devices. The move came after two days of criticism from opposition politicians and privacy organizations that the „Sanchar Saathi“ app was an effort to snoop on citizens through their phones.
„Government has decided not to make the pre-installation mandatory for mobile manufacturers“, India’s Ministry of Communications said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.
The initial order, issued privately to phone makers by the ministry late last month, was leaked to Indian media outlets on Monday. It directed all phone makers to preinstall the Sanchar Saathi (which means Communication Partner in Hindi) app on new phones within 90 days, and also on older phones through software updates.
There was an immediate backlash on Monday, with opposition political parties quickly labelling the government software a „snooping app“ and drawing parallels to Pegasus, the hacking spyware developed, marketed and licensed to governments around the world by the Israeli company NSO Group.
On Tuesday, India’s national Minister of Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia insisted to journalists outside the parliament that the Sanchar Sathi app was non-compulsory and in line with democratic principles. He said smartphone owners could activate the app at their convenience to access its benefits, and they could also delete it from devices at any time.
He did not, however, say anything on Tuesday to deny or change the order to phone makers to ensure the app was pre-installed.
On Wednesday, Scindia insisted that „neither is snooping possible, nor it will be done“ with the app.
While the order for it to be installed universally was revoked, the government continued defending the app on Wednesday, saying the intent had been to „provide access to cybersecurity to all citizens“, and insisting that it was „secure and purely meant to help citizens.
