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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

#641

Post by Covenant0028 »

alephnerd wrote: post #30
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #25

Do we have a breakdown of what this app actually does?

https://sancharsaathi.gov.in/ Basically IMEI stamping because sim card purchase with ID has come to be viewed as flawed/compromised by NatSec types in India. Here's some additional context from a previous thread on HN [0] [0] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40476498 ------ Edit: Can't reply Lots of old phones still exist, so a virtual/eSIM does nothing to give visibility into those devices. Also, India wants t…

India has not been antagonistic or ambivalent in its recent past, until a Nobel Peace Prize aspirant in the WH decided to take a machete to relations that both countries had been building for the last 25 years, with largely bipartisan support in both countries. Even the current Indian govt is quite pro US until the aspirant tanked that relationship.

And yes, there will be times India doesn't agree with the US, and that's normal. It's seeking to be a partner, not a vassal state.

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

#642

Post by MonkeyClub »

rramadass wrote: post #599
rapatel0 wrote: post #593

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Circumstances behind the event: - A group of local muslims were found to set fire to a train of Hindu pilgrims/kar sevaks returning from Ayodhya (Holy city in Hinduism) - There was a large scale riot (1000-2000 people) that broke out - Modi was accused of slow deployment of forces and tacit approval. - Modi was cleared of all charges after a multi year investigation. Ethnic tension between Hindus and Muslims goes bac…

Don't feed the troll. "MonkeyClub" has been downvoted and flagged in this thread.

That's factually incorrect. Keep persecuting, and your allegiance is becoming clearer.

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

#643

Post by captn3m0 »

arunabha wrote: post #624
thisislife2 wrote: post #618

A government minister has clarified that the app is not mandatory but "optional" and can be deleted by the user is they don't want to use it - Sanchar Saathi app optional, can be deleted, says Telecom Minister Scindia - https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/sanchar-saathi-... .

> A government minister has clarified that the app is not mandatory but "optional" and can be deleted by the user In India it doesn't really mean anything. As an example the biometric based id 'Aadhaar' is 'voluntary' on paper, The Modi govt had to concede this after a Supreme court judgement that made it clear that Aadhaar cannot be made mandatory. However in practice it's anything but. Govt officials will openly re…

The order states:

> Ensure that the pre-installed Sanchar Saathi application is readily visible and accessible to the end users at the time of first use or device setup and that its functionalities are not disabled or restricted.

https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2197140&re... (Press Release)

https://x.com/arvindgunasekar/status/1995540552205697079 (Leaked Order)

Does not sound optional. (I do not have an Aadhaar and have to fight across regulated domains - finance, insurance, banking, investments, even renting).

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

#645

Post by crazygringo »

rishabhaiover wrote: post #22

I'm shocked by people and state using the crutch of cyber crime or scams to push a totalitarian solution to a problem that is better solved by improved education and targeted campaigns against common security pitfalls. I abhor any decision that robs even a grain of my individual freedom.

> is better solved by improved education

From the article, this has nothing to do with education. It's:

> The app is mainly designed to help users block and track lost or stolen smartphones across all telecom networks, using a central registry. It also lets them identify, and disconnect, fraudulent mobile connections.

If your phone gets stolen, you can disable it.

I'm not saying that a government app is necessarily the right or best way to go about this, but to suggest that this can be solved with education misses the point entirely. No amount of education is going to prevent someone on a bike swiping my phone from my hand and cycling off with it.

And as long as the app isn't otherwise spying on you (and there's no mention of that), I don't see much of what this has to do with freedom either. The freedom to steal someone's phone and use it without being blocked? There are already a bunch of apps on my phone I can't uninstall, so that's not new.

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

#647

Post by zug_zug »

refurb wrote: post #534
amarant wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but the US was never a full democracy. Part of the problem with the US is that the president has way too much power to begin with. If trump was elected prime minister of Sweden, he wouldn't have been able to do half the stuff he's done.

The President doesn't have that much power in the US. Head of the executive, yes, but that's it. And what has he done? Enforced immigration laws according to written law? Reorganized the executive branch? He can't pass any laws by himself. The judiciary can overturn his executive orders.

How about stacked the supreme court with sycophants (at least one of which has been caught taking bribes) whereby allowing his gross violations of the law to be tolerated on appeal to the supreme court (legal eagle has a great video on this).

And then bullied executive who dare disagree with him (e.g. jan 6 commission, and his first impeachment) and even perform completely baseless criminal investigations that (e.g. against Comey) that are so ill-advised that he has to appoint unqualified prosecutors to even file these claims because no serious one would stand for it.

He now wields enough scary-factor that even though we have handwritten proof of his involvement with Eepstein that his own party is too cowardly to impeach him or even release the files (the same party that freaked out about Clinton getting a blowjob now afraid to go after a pedophile, and one who flirts with the idea of pardoning Maxwell and moved her to a minimum security facility)

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

#648

Post by sofixa »

pessimizer wrote: post #620
Y_Y wrote: post #612

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, but I inferred the meaning of "something racist [in the judgement of the authorities]".

Racists deserve free speech, and our society is better for it. When racists are silenced, anti-racists become complacent, stupid, and ironically, racist because they lose the ability to recognize racism. Defend everyone's free speech. Don't require the necessity of unfair accusations. The destruction of people's lives over unfair accusations is simply a failure of due process and the desire of people to join a mob fo…

> Racists deserve free speech, and our society is better for it

The individual victims of racist speech would strongly disagree with that.

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

#649

Post by modo_mario »

zarzavat wrote: post #250
ibejoeb wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's all happening really quickly, so I haven't been able to keep up. I know Starmer said that digital ID will be mandatory to work in the UK. Did he mention how that would be implemented? Is the UK going to issue and official device to everyone in country, or are the people supposed to pay for it? What about homeless, poor, and the provisional residents?

I assume that almost everyone in the UK who is able to work has a smartphone already. If they were to require digital ID for pensions or disability benefits there would be more problems.

And if you have a pinephone or so?

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

#650

Post by charcircuit »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #335
charcircuit wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being able to break the law is never a good thing. Immigration agencies can still fight whatever after people have been kicked out as has been decided. Government inefficiency should never be celebrated.

> Being able to break the law is never a good thing. Suppose there is a law against being Jewish.

Then I suggest Jewish people not visit the country. Trying to still visit despite being banned will not leed to a good outcome.
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