Experts raise concerns over Aarogya Setu
NEWDELHI:The government’s decision to make it mandatory for people to install its Aarogya Setu mobile app has inadequate legal basis and exposes users to possible surveillance, according to experts who are now appealing for the directive to be rolled back or stronger safeguards to be introduced, even as the tool triggered a political spat between the government and the opposition Congress on Saturday.
The main function of the app is to keep a track of people who come close to each other while having the application on their phones. Their contact history can be pulled up if any one of these persons tests positive for Covid-19, for faster contact tracing.
The home ministry’s decision on Friday to make it must for people going to work from Monday to install the application was criticised by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who said it was “intrusive” before Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad responded by calling the claim “a lie”.
“The Aarogya Setu app is a sophisticated surveillance system, outsourced to a private operator, with no institutional oversight - raising serious data security and privacy concerns...,”
Gandhi said in a tweet Saturday.
To this, Prasad responded with two tweets: “Daily a new lie. Aarogya Setu is a powerful companion which protects people. It has a robust data security architecture. Those who indulged in surveillance all their lives, won’t know how tech can be leveraged for good!”
“Aarogya Setu is now being appreciated globally. The App is NOT outsourced to any private operator. Mr. Gandhi really high time that you stop outsourcing your tweets to your cronies who do not understand India,” he said.
Cyber law expert Pavan Duggal said the need for a digital contact tracing method was understandable. “However, there is no law passed by the parliament authorizing the creation and making mandatory of this app which is in contravention of the Information Technology Act. So, while it could be used as an emergency measure, it could open up a Pandora’s box of legal challenges for the government,” he said.
According to Duggal, when the application was launched, the developers uploaded the terms and conditions as well as privacy policy, but the terms and conditions that stated that ‘government won’t be responsible for any unauthorized leakage of data’ have been removed.
Privacy experts and opposition leaders have raised concerns on the app’s mandate. AIMIM leader Assaduddin Owaisi on Friday tweeted, “Now Delhi’s Sultans have issued a farmaan that people have no choice in the matter. They must share their private data with government.”
Reacting to it, I&B minister Prakash Javadekar said, “It curbs false information and you also know if there is a Covid-19 positive person in your vicinity.”
Around 45 organisations and more than 100 individuals on Saturday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah and electronics and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad against the mandatory use of the Aarogya Setu app for workers.
“While the government initially claimed that the use of Aarogya Setu would be purely voluntary, downloading the app was soon made mandatory for all Central Armed Police Forces personnel and employees of Prasar Bharati,” the letter signed by the groups stated. It could violate privacy laws and the Puttaswamy privacy judgment, the letter says.
A government representative, however, denied that there were privacy issues.
Abhishek Singh of MyGov said, “...only those who are travelling to offices will have to download the app. Once the epidemic is over, a user can delete the app.”