India’s telecommunications ministry on Wednesday withdrew a controversial directive requiring smartphone manufacturers to preinstall a government cybersecurity app on all devices, just five days after issuing the mandate and amid fierce privacy backlash from opposition parties and tech giants including Apple.
The Department of Telecommunications had ordered on November 28 that all smartphone makers embed the Sanchar Saathi app on new devices within 90 days and ensure users could not disable it. The directive also required the app be pushed to older models through software updates, affecting India’s 1.2 billion smartphone users.
The mandate sparked immediate outcry from privacy advocates and opposition politicians who compared it to surveillance measures in authoritarian countries. Congress Party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi called it a “snooping app,” while the main opposition demanded parliamentary debate on what it termed a breach of privacy.
The mandate sparked immediate outcry from privacy advocates and opposition politicians who compared it to surveillance measures in authoritarian countries. Congress Party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi called it a “snooping app,” while the main opposition demanded parliamentary debate on what it termed a breach of privacy.
Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had attempted to defuse the controversy Tuesday by calling the app “completely optional,” though his comments contradicted the official directive that prohibited disabling the app’s functionalities.
