Rahul Gandhi raises security concerns of 'Aarogya Setu' after MHA mandates its usage

Hitting out at Centre's Aarogya Setu App, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, on Saturday, stated that application raised serious data security and privacy concerns. He ded that application was a sophisticated surveillance system, outsourced to a private operator, with institutional oversight. He said that while techlogy can keep us safe, it must t track citizens without ir consent.

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Rahul Gandhi slams Aarogya Setu App

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MHA makes Aarogya Setu App mandatory

On Friday, Ministry of Home Affairs amended its guidelines for extended lockdown in India till May 17. In tification issued by MHA, Centre me use of its contact tracing app Aarogya Setu mandatory in containment zones and for all public and private entity employees. While Centre has hailed app as hering to global standards, several Opposition leers and privacy experts have raised issues with it.

  tification re, " local authority shall ensure 100% cover of Aarogya Setu app among residents of containment zones. Use of Aarogya Setu app shall be mandatory for all employees, both private and public. It shall be responsibility of He of respective Organizations to ensure 100% cover of this app among employees".

Govt employees to downlo Aarogya Setu app, commute after checking 'risk' status: Centre

What is Aarogya Setu App?

Centre's Aarogya Setu App is currently being used for contact-tracing amid COVID-19 pandemic. application uses  Bluetooth and GPS data of user to collect surveillance for contact tracing in Containment Zones. While it was t mandated before, Centre has w me its downlo compulsory, raising security concerns and legality issues.

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Experts state that app's us of GPS-based location data is gaining more date than what is necessary. Moreover, experts state that location data is t used by app on an individual basis, but on an aggregated basis. Data analysts have also questioned why Centre has t me source code of app available for examination by larger techlogy community.