‘Creative Imagination’: Govt Denies Report on New Security Testing for Smartphones

The Central authorities has denied a information report by Reuters stating that it’s more likely to power smartphones makers to allow the removing of pre-installed purposes and mandate screening of main working system updates beneath proposed new safety guidelines, calling it “unfettered artistic creativeness”.

Sharing the report on Twitter, Union Minister of Electronics and Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that the report was “plain wrong” and primarily based on “lack of expertise” of the ongoing consultations between the government and industry players on mobile security guidelines.

“This story is plain wrong – there is no “security testing” or “crackdown” as story suggests,” Chandrasekhar wrote on Twitter. “Story relies on lack of expertise maybe n unfettered artistic creativeness that’s primarily based an ongoing session course of btwn Ministry n Industry on cellular safety tips of BIS Standard IS17737 (Part-3) 2021.”

“@GoI_MeitY is 100% committed to Ease of doing Business n is totally focussed on growing Electronics Mfg to touch USD 300Bln by 2026,” he added.

The report by Reuters on Tuesday cited two  two individuals and a authorities doc, and acknowledged that India’s IT ministry is contemplating new guidelines, particulars of which haven’t been beforehand reported, amid considerations about spying and abuse of person knowledge.

“Pre-installed apps is usually a weak safety level and we need to guarantee no overseas nations, together with China, are exploiting it. It’s a matter of nationwide safety,” a senior government official told Reuters on the condition of anonymity.

The new rules would likely extend launch timelines in the world’s No.2 smartphone market and lead to losses in business from pre-installed apps for players including Samsung, Xiaomi, Vivo, and Apple, as per the report.

The issue of data breaches and risks related to the use of Chinese mobile apps and phones was first highlighted in 2020. After the Galwan Valley clash, the Indian government banned several Chinese mobile apps. The government had banned 59 Chinese apps, including popular ones like TikTok, WeChat, and ShareIt, to protect the privacy of its citizens. The list got further long with more apps being added in the past few months. But these apps have come back in India under new identities, posing a significant threat to the security and privacy of Indian users.

Globally, several countries have already imposed curbs on the use of technology from Chinese firms like Huawei and Hikvision fearing that Beijing could use them to spy on foreign citizens. However, the Chinese government denied such claims.

At present, many smartphones have pre-installed apps that cannot be removed, such as Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi’s app store GetApps, Samsung’s payment app Samsung Pay mini and iPhone maker Apple’s browser Safari.

What the Reuters Report Says

As per the report, smartphone makers will have to provide an uninstall option and new models will be checked for compliance by a lab authorized by the Bureau of Indian Standards agency under the new rules, the two people with knowledge of the plan said.

The government is also considering mandating screening of every major operating system update before it is rolled out to consumers, one of the people said.

A February 8 confidential government record of an IT ministry meeting, seen by Reuters, states, “Majority of smartphones used in India are having pre-installed Apps/Bloatware which poses serious privacy/information security issue(s)”.

The closed-door assembly was attended by representatives from Xiaomi, Samsung, Apple and Vivo, the assembly report exhibits.

The authorities has determined to provide smartphone makers a 12 months to conform as soon as the rule comes into impact, the date for which has not been fastened but, the doc added.

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