Virus tracing app raises privacy concerns in India
NEW DELHI (AP) — As India enters an extended coronavirus lockdown, the government is actively pursuing contact tracing to help control infections. At the heart of the effort in the country of 1.3 billion people is a smartphone app that evaluates users’ infection risk based on location services such as Bluetooth and GPS.
In April, India launched the Aarogya Setu app, which helps people identify whether they have been near someone who tested positive for the virus. Since then, the app has been downloaded more than 90 million times in a country with a smartphone user base of about 500 million. To popularize it, a campaign featuring Bollywood celebrities was launched.
But the monitoring technology has prompted a raft of questions about privacy, security and potential data breaches — and whether it compromises civil liberties and gives the government snooping powers.
“Aarogya Setu is a form of surveillance and inflicts tangible privacy injury,” said Apar Gupta, executive director of the Internet Freedom Foundation.
On Wednesday, Ravi Shankar Prasad, a senior minister, said the app was “robust” in terms of privacy protection and data security. The government also said no data or security breach had been identified with the app after concerns about potential security issues were raised by tech experts.
Mobile tracing apps to help contain infections have already been developed in the U.S., China, Singapore, Australia and many European countries. Other countries are scrambling to deploy their own smartphone tools. But in India, the technological intervention has exacerbated concerns like in no other country.
India still doesn’t have a comprehensive data privacy law to protect people’s personal data. What is more alarming, experts say, are sweeping orders that make the use of the app mandatory for many...
