Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Communications Minister, strongly denied claims that the Sanchar Saathi application allows the government to engage in snooping on citizens and on Wednesday, in Parliament, declared that snooping under any conditions could not be done using the application. In response to the apprehensions expressed during the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha, Scindia gave an exquisite clarification that the app is not meant to spy on citizens but only to secure them.
He pointed out that the approach to the Sanchar Saathi initiative by the government is empowering the mobile users to have means of protecting their online identity, tracking their phones and ensuring that they are not used to misbehave. The minister has dismissed speculation and criticism of the Sanchar Saathi platform by insisting that there is no snooping and will never occur on the platform.
The debate follows several days after the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) passed a directive dated November 28, which mandates all the mobile producers to pre-install the Sanchar Saathi app on all the devices sold in India. The order also directs the companies to install the app into the current handsets via software update.
Under the directive, the manufacturers should make sure that the app is visible upon initial installation of the gadgets by the user. Moreover, device manufacturers cannot malfunction the essential mechanisms of the app or turn them off or down. The advantage of this is to avail the platform to all users, which provides features that include blocking the lost phones, SIM misuse, and verification of the connection registered in the name of the individual.
Responding to the issue of the choice of users, Scindia had previously on Tuesday explained that people can always choose to get rid of the app in case they do not want to use it. The compulsory install, he added, does not mean that one cannot get rid of it in future.
The government asserts that the application is a valuable resource to make online safety stronger and to avoid online fraud and emphasizes that there are no grounds to accuse it of spying.
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