Picture : Sansad TV
Days after his ministry told smartphone makers to preload a state-run cybersecurity app on all new devices, Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said users are free to delete the Sanchar Saathi app, and it will remain dormant till they register on it.
“If you want to delete it, then delete it,” Scindia told reporters outside Parliament.
“But not everyone in the country knows that this app exists to protect them from fraud and theft.”
His remark followed growing privacy concerns over a November 28 government order directing smartphone makers to pre-install the Sanchar Saathi app on all new devices and to ensure that ‘its functionalities are not disabled or restricted’.
For phones already in use or lying unsold in stores, the order asked manufacturers to push the app through software updates. Critics fear that the app could be used to read messages that users exchange.
The Opposition Congress called Sanchar Saathi a ‘snooping app’.
Denying the Opposition’s charges, Scindia asserted that there was no snooping or call monitoring through the app.
“It is our responsibility to make this app reach everyone. If you want to delete it, then delete it. If you don’t want to use it, then don’t register it. If you register it, then it will remain active. If you don’t register it, then it will remain inactive,” he said.
Critics also pointed to a similar mandate issued by Russia in August requiring a state-backed messaging app, MAX, to be pre-installed on all smartphones.
