India rolls back order to preinstall cybersecurity app on smartphones

NEW DELHI AP India s telecoms ministry on Wednesday rolled back its order for smartphone manufacturers to preinstall a government-run cybersecurity app on new devices The Ministry of Communications on Monday solicited smartphone makers to install the ruling body s Sanchar Saathi app within days and to prevent users from disabling it It also required manufacturers to push the app onto older models through a program update Monday s directive led to widespread criticism and concerns of violation of evidence privacy and user consent in one of the largest handset markets in the world That order also clashed with policies of companies like U S -based Apple which prohibits preinstalling third-party apps on its devices including those developed by governments The ministry revealed in a comment Wednesday that new users had registered to download the app in the last day While noting its increased acceptance it mentioned the executive has decided not to make the preinstallation mandatory for mobile manufacturers The app is secure and purely meant to help citizens from bad actors in the cyberworld There is no other function other than protecting the users in the app and they can remove the app whenever they want the declaration declared On Tuesday India s telecom minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia had called the app voluntary after privacy advocates revealed it could erode user privacy and consent The Sanchar Saathi app which was distributed in January was designed to let users block and track lost or stolen phones and to identify and shut down fraudulent mobile connections Since its launch it has drawn at least million downloads according to executive information Source