Rahul questions integrity of Arogya Setu App

Arogya setu app has been made mandatory for all government and private sector employees, in the name of COVID-19 tracking, the app is creating a database for the government, people's movements and data can be accessed anytime , Internet Freedom Foundation calls it intrusion without consent.

As Centre 'mandates' download of Aarogya Setu app, a debate ensues on privacy concerns

Rahul Gandhi called it "a sophisticated surveillance system".

He raised "serious data security and privacy concerns" related to the application, which was launched in April.

It is outsourced to a pvt operator, with no institutional oversight—raising serious data security and privacy concerns.

Technology can help keep us safe; but fear must not be leveraged to track citizens without their consent," Gandhi wrote on Twitter.

Aarogya Setu continuously collects data on the location of the user and cross-references it with the Central government database

When two people who have installed the app come in close proximity, the app shares the data

The Centre, on Friday, had announced it mandatory for government and private sector employees

Government entrusted the organisational heads with ensuring its 100 per cent coverage.

The application, asks for the name, phone number, profession, gender and age

  The app also requires you to keep your Bluetooth and GPS Location sharing turned on at all times.

The person's details provided are stored on the application server.

Multiple NGOs have raised security concerns over the application.

The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) said the country lacks a proper data protection law

The application would be useless for the low-income non-smartphone users.

According to IFF, "Such systems inadvertently discriminate against regions which have fewer concentrations of smartphones

Specifically, it can lead to harmful outcomes for people residing in economically weaker areas.

These systems can wrongly urge people to pre-emptively take tests

The application, collected multiple data points for personal and sensitive personal information, which increases privacy risks".

"Other apps just collect one data point which is subsequently replaced with a scrubbed device identifier.

India’s Aarogya Setu collects multiple data points for personal and sensitive personal information which increases privacy risks."

The organisation also raised concerns as to "why the health ministry is not the major involved player in the application".

"In other countries, health authorities are leading the efforts to respond to COVID-19.

In India, multiple committees have been set up in the context of Aarogya Setu

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has least involvement with the data

Instead health authorities are being tertiary institutional players."