The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on November 28 ordered smartphone manufacturers to install the Sanchar Saathi app in all new devices and do a software update of those still in the supply chain.
Like all national security regimes, the BJP-led Union Government habitually prowls for opportunities to surveil citizens. Not satisfied with the Orwellian arsenal it already has, it tried to steal an app into citizens' phones over the weekend. When alarms went off, it beat a hasty retreat with a muttered explanation.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on November 28 ordered smartphone manufacturers to install the Sanchar Saathi app in all new devices and do a software update of those still in the supply chain. Using the current epidemic of phone fraud cases as a ruse, it instructed that the app be activated at switch-on and non-removable by the user.
This was no safety measure or an optional security feature. It was a stealthy bid to expand surveillance in the guise of consumer protection. The backlash was swift and implacable. Digital-rights groups warned it would set a precedent for the government to plant a listening device in the personal space of every citizen. Phone makers opposed the order because the forced installation of software violates global privacy norms.
Telecom minister Jyotiraditya Scindia hastened to "clarify" that the Sanchar Saathi app was meant to thwart phone scamsters and that users would, in fact, be able to uninstall the app. This was just prevarication. The original DoT order clearly said the stealth app should give no optionality to the user.
Privacy fears regarding this and other electronic monitoring bids are entirely justified. Sanchar Saathi links to central databases containing IMEI numbers and SIM details, which constitute the core identity of a mobile phone. Implanting an app into personal devices would give the government a permanent foothold that can be expanded, through updates, for adjacent purposes in future.
Scindia's protestations of honest intent on the part of this government have no credibility. This is an administration accused of implanting the military-grade Israeli spyware Pegasus in the phones of journalists, opposition leaders and critics. While never denying the purchase, it refused to cooperate with a committee appointed by the Supreme Court to investigate the case and stonewalled all questions on it in Parliament.
There is definitely a need for a major assault on phone fraud, which has become an everyday phenomenon. Cyber scam incidents rose from around 10 lakh in 2022 to more than 22 lakh in 2024, with losses to citizens running into the tens of thousands of crores. Yet, conventional law-enforcement efforts to curb such crimes remain anaemic at best. So, an app-based initiative, with potential for surveillance, makes no sense when measures on the ground are not robust enough.
The police routinely refuse to register FIRs unless the scam amount is large, which shuts out a majority of victims. Inter-state cooperation is dismal: In Hyderabad, police openly tell victims they get no help from counterparts in rural Bihar in shutting down scammers operating openly. On YouTube, you see hundreds of videos by independent hackers tracking down Indian scamsters -- down to specific addresses -- while carrying out 'digital arrests' of elderly Americans. Yet, Indian law enforcement barely lifts a finger. Worse, when police from one state travel to another to investigate phone fraud, they often demand that victims pay for their travel and lodging. If busting phone scams is the real intent of the government, it makes more sense to plug such gaping holes in the conventional crime-solving system first.