On Tuesday, Minister of State for Communications Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani indicated that issues about the Sanchar Saathi app had been reviewed in a working group with all mobile phone makers, except for Apple.
The rationale behind making it necessary
The Minister added that the Sanchar Saathi app is similar to any other application, which customers can activate and deactivate. Its key goals include making it easier to report online fraud and find misplaced mobile phones.
Pemmasani emphasised that the app’s crowdsourced data is critical for combating financial fraud. He stated that allowing the app on practically all mobile phones will considerably increase information accuracy, allowing for faster fraud detection.
“A working committee was organized, and all original equipment makers were invited to voice their views. As far as I know, Apple was the only corporation that did not engage in that working group, whereas everyone else did,” Pemmasani remarked.
According to industry sources, Apple is anticipated to discuss the order for the Sanchar Saathi app installation and work out a solution. The company may be unable to carry out the current order as it is. Previously, Apple had refused to enable certain features of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) DND software for reporting unwanted calls and SMS. After years of discussion, it finally began supporting the TRAI DND app, albeit with significant restrictions.
Privacy and Impact
Regarding privacy concerns, Pemmasani explained that the Sanchar Saathi app will only access the phone number and SMS messages reported by the user as fraud or spam.
“When you use the app to report fraud or spam, it will request the phone number from which you received the phone call. Then it gets reported. Nothing further will be disclosed. If there is an SMS message, it will ask for the phone number from where the SMS was received. Aside from this information, no additional information would be recorded or published, Pemmasani confirmed.
The Minister revealed that cyber fraud affected 50 lakh people last year, resulting in a loss of Rs 23,000 crore. The government has also received several complaints about lost mobile numbers, missing mobile phones, and situations when multiple phones were registered in a person’s name without their knowledge.
Pemmasani continued by underlining the app’s reach: “The Sanchar Saathi app is available in all vernacular languages, not just English and Hindi.” Currently, 1.4 crore people have downloaded this mobile app, while 21 crore people browse the Sanchar Saathi website. This has been going on for 1.5 years.” He stressed that the entire app relies on crowdsourcing.
