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India orders smartphone makers to preload state-owned cyber safety app

reuters.com

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Re: India orders smartphone makers to preload state-owned cyber safety app

#191

Post by belorn »

Aurornis wrote: post #138
Kelteseth wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't find any context for your claim so here is some reddit comment: So it’s true 3,300 people were arrested for posts online. What they don’t tell you are the statistics or context. The actual law for these arrests covers EVERYTHING online. These arrests include those arrested for terrorism (if the planning/act of terror includes any online communication in the UK), threats of violence, racist abuse, hate speech…

> These arrests include those arrested for terrorism (if the planning/act of terror includes any online communication in the UK), threats of violence, racist abuse, hate speech and unwanted communication All of these attempts to "debunk" this statistic feel like they're missing the mark. How did the UK get a point where planning terrorism and making mean comments online go into the same statistic for arrests? Does it…

In many countries you do not get charged with every possible crime if there is a larger crime involve. If someone rob a place, they don't also need to have separate charges for illegally entering the place, destroying property when they broke the window, selling stolen goods, wire fraud for using the banking system, and money laundering for concealing that it is illegal money, and tax evasion. Each step is illegal on their own, but time crime statistics won't be written like that. The prosecutor may argue that if the accused are not found guilty for the primary, then secondaries may then be used.

The strange thing is that the UK are arresting people for abusing the telecom system, and not for the more serious crime like terrorism, death threats, harassment and sexual harassment.

Re: India orders smartphone makers to preload state-owned cyber safety app

#192

Post by MonkeyClub »

nephihaha wrote: post #162
MonkeyClub wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm shocked India is currently run by a nationalist regime headed by the so called "butcher of Gujarat"[1], there isn't much that would shock me wrt to that lot's totalitarian tendencies. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_image_of_Narendra_Modi

Mate, this isn't even remotely "nationalist". This stuff is being pushed across the world. Digital ID? The only people really desperate for it are our rulers.

[flagged]

Re: India orders smartphone makers to preload state-owned cyber safety app

#193

Post by MonkeyClub »

djfobbz wrote: post #173
nephihaha wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mate, this isn't even remotely "nationalist". This stuff is being pushed across the world. Digital ID? The only people really desperate for it are our rulers.

[flagged]

Yep, Modi, the Indian PM, is a good friend of the WEF, and of many global power players.

Re: India orders smartphone makers to preload state-owned cyber safety app

#194

Post by renewiltord »

marginalx wrote: post #176
renewiltord wrote: post #164

These things are more a factor of aggregate risk handling. As an example, if you have tuberculosis it is possible even in the US for the country to mandate that a doctor watch you take the treatment. Totalitarian? Authoritarian? A tool that could be used to force someone to have to show up to where a state-controlled authority could confirm that they are? Yes, all of these things could be words you could assign to th…

All good goals - but this can be done by the government forcing the private companies (Apple/Goog/Samsung) to build tools, reporting, support services around helping with both Scamming applications or Stolen phones etc.... This will keep the data out of governments hands, while pushing the cost burden to these companies and they would be better equipped to build around these goals than the government themselves. We a…

I don't think the Indian government realistically has the ability to enforce on Apple/Google/Samsung like that. Regardless, even if they did, India has a diversity of (what we would probably consider) garbage smartphones. For anyone who lives in the West and is used to the kind of state legibility and control here, I think they'd find India quite surprising. The state has limited visibility and control there, simply because they never built a trustable bureaucratic network of data transmission.

If you read the Internet, you will hear that India has strict controls on KYC for SIM cards and so on. But on my last trip there I acquired one without much fuss. I'm not sure how that happened but I didn't provide any ID! I suspect that in such an environment you can't really do the thing you're suggesting.

The average mobile phone store there had an absolutely mind-blowing profusion of smartphone brands that all sound like those Amazon drop-shipped Chinese brands: Vivo, Poco, Realme, Oppo. And those are the good ones! There is a Cambrian-like explosion of brands there from various manufacturers. It's an unusual place.

EDIT: I'm going to have to reply to you here because I'm rate-limited on comments. See below in response.

Is it contradictory? I imagine saying "install this app on your phones from the factory when selling here" is a lot more achievable than coordinating what you suggested which is:

> ...build tools, reporting, support services around helping with both Scamming applications or Stolen phones etc....

But perhaps you anticipate these to both require equivalent ability? If so, I think that's the crux of the disagreement. I don't think the Indian state has the power to set up a mechanism to set a standard for tools, reporting, and support services that meet some requirements to detect scammers etc.

In fact, I think that's a really high bar. I think perhaps only highly developed nations would have any success designing such a program. I think even the smaller EU member nations would fail at it, and I don't think any of the developing nations (barring China).

Re: India orders smartphone makers to preload state-owned cyber safety app

#195

Post by SSLy »

nbsande wrote: post #188

> With more than 5 million downloads since its launch, the app has helped block more than 3.7 million stolen or lost mobile phones, while more than 30 million fraudulent connections have also been terminated. I might be reading this wrong but these numbers seem very weird. Did more than half the people who downloaded the app block a stolen phone? And did each person who downloaded the app terminate 6 fraudulent conne…

> And did each person who downloaded the app terminate 6 fraudulent connections?

That much is believable, if not on the low side. Spam there is intense.

Re: India orders smartphone makers to preload state-owned cyber safety app

#196

Post by DeepSeaTortoise »

satvikpendem wrote: post #156
vlovich123 wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe but there’s a fair amount of corruption going on in India. For example, they got caught spraying water near air quality monitors (at them?) to make the data seem better than it is instead of actually tackling the problem.

That's sadly how the culture is in India. I wish it improved to be more like Japan or China but I'm not sure how one can solve this sort of issue.

Require all people who received higher education to work for their country first for 15 to 20 years.

There's no point in being able to buy an outrageously fancy toilet with remittances if there's no sewer to hook it up to.

Re: India orders smartphone makers to preload state-owned cyber safety app

#197

Post by papichulo2023 »

ssivark wrote: post #183
Animats wrote: post #79

What does this app actually do, in detail? Anyone know?

This seems to be the app: https://www.sancharsaathi.gov.in/ Looks like it's quire popular/established already, with over 10 million downloads. Basically a "portal" for basic digital safety/hygiene related services. Quoting Perplexity regarding what facilities the app offers: 1. Chakshu: Report suspicious calls, SMS, or WhatsApp for scams like impersonation, fake investments, or KYC frauds. 2. Block Lost/Stolen Phones…

How does an app inspect other app's storage data (like whatsapp). I thought Android security model blocked that. Does it have root access?

Re: India orders smartphone makers to preload state-owned cyber safety app

#199

Post by brokenmachine »

observationist wrote: post #185
nephihaha wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mate, this isn't even remotely "nationalist". This stuff is being pushed across the world. Digital ID? The only people really desperate for it are our rulers.

It's funny how it's all rolling out right around the same time. Almost like they get together and plot this stuff at big meetings multiple times a year, where they get lavish meals and entertainment, get wined and dined by the rich and elite, and... well. Must be good to be kings. It's really 4 horsemen of the infocalypse garbage being trotted out, and the general population is clueless and credulous. "They're in cha…

>"They're in charge, surely they must know what they're doing! They wouldn't lie to us!

Literally nobody thinks that.

Unfortunately most people don't have the time or energy to fight every emerging attack on freedom.

Everything is going to plan for the billionaire class.

Eventually everything will burn, only time will tell if it will be from global warming or food riots.

Re: India orders smartphone makers to preload state-owned cyber safety app

#200

Post by ignoramous »

sharadov wrote: post #129

Indian government is big on pronouncements. It will be a garbage app that most likely will not work, considering the historical incompetence of the Indian government's expertise in all things tech. I am pretty certain Apple and Samsung will pay off someone in the government.

> It will be a garbage app that most likely will not work, considering the historical incompetence of the Indian government's expertise in all things tech.

Wait until "they" outsource it (on the pretext of national security interests) to countries that have deep talent in cybersecurity (like the US/Israel/Russia/China).

Ex: https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2025/06/11/india-orders-new-fig...

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