Centre Orders Phone Makers To Preload Its Cybersecurity App; No Provision For Removal
The centre reportedly set a deadline of 90 days to major smartphone companies to make sure that the government's Sanchar Saathi app is pre-loaded on new phones, with no way for users to disable it.
The Department of Telecommunications has discreetly mandated smartphone makers in India to preload Sanchar Sathi, a state-owned cyber security app that cannot be deleted, into all their new devices, according to a report from Reuters.
India is following suit after other countries like Russia have created regulations regarding blocking the use of purloined phones for fraud, along with the promotion of state-sanctioned applications.
Apple may likely clash with the government over this due to it previously having done so over the development of the centre's anti-spam app which the tech firm alleged was not respecting the privacy of users.
The firm also has an internal policy not to pre-install any third party or government owned applications on their phones before sale. Samsung, Vivo, Oppo and Xiaomi are the other firms that are likely to be beholden to this mandate.
The order was given out on Nov. 28, according to Reuters, which said that they had accessed it. It set a deadline of 90 days to major smartphone companies to make sure that the government's Sanchar Saathi app is pre-loaded on new mobile phones, with no avenues for users to disable it.
The centre reportedly ordered the smartphone firms to load the application into smartphones through software updates for all the devices that have already made their way into the supply chain after manufacture. This order was sent privately to firms, and not made public, Reuters said.
The central government said that the application was key in countering "serious endangerment" of telecom cyber security posed by duplicated and faked IMEI numbers used in scams and misusing networks.
The International Mobile Equipment Identity is a 14- to 17-digit number unique to each phone and is most commonly used to wall off network access for phones reported stolen.
According to the centre, the app had helped recover more than 700,000 lost phones, with 50,000 recovered in October, since its launch in January.
