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Amid privacy concerns, Centre makes Aarogya Setu app open source

  •   Tue, May 26 2020 10:57:18 PM

New Delhi, May 26 (IANS): In a bid to allay the privacy concerns regarding the Aarogya Setu app, the Centre on Tuesday announced it was making the mobile application open source, allowing researchers, experts and developers to understand how it works and the personal data processed through it.

The source code for the Android version of the application is available for review and collaboration on Github. The iOS version of the application will be released as open source within the next two weeks and the server code will be released subsequently, an official statement said.

Almost 98 per cent of Aarogya Setu users are on Android platform, it added.

"The key pillars of Aarogya Setu have been transparency, privacy and security and in line with India's policy on Open Source Software, the source code of Aarogya Setu has now been made open source," said the Electronics & IT Ministry statement.

It said that opening the source code to the developer community signifies the government's continuing commitment to the principles of transparency and collaboration.

"With the release of the source code in the public domain, we are looking to expanding collaboration and to leverage the expertise of top technical brains amongst the talented youth and citizens of our nation and to collectively build a robust and secure technology solution to help support the work of frontline health workers in fighting this pandemic together," the statement said.

The government has also announced a bug bounty program for the app, whereby the government will pay a cash price of Rs 1 lakh to any developer who finds bugs or loopholes in the application.

 
  

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Comment on this article

  • Jossey Saldanha, Mumbai

    Wed, May 27 2020

    Now Pakistan can also copy ...

    DisAgree [3] Agree [2] Reply Report Abuse

  • smr, Karkala

    Wed, May 27 2020

    India has "a terrible history" of protecting privacy, it may be Aadhaar - the world's largest and most controversial biometrics-based identity database or Arogya setu app.

    Aarogya Setu stores location data and requires constant access to the phone's Bluetooth which, experts say, makes it invasive from a security and privacy viewpoint.

    In Singapore, for example, the TraceTogether app can be used only by its health ministry to access data. It assures citizens that the data is to be used strictly for disease control and will not be shared with law enforcement agencies for enforcing lockdowns and quarantine. The big issue with the app is that it tracks location, which globally has been deemed unnecessary.

    "If I'm on the third floor and you are on the fourth floor, it will show that we have met, even though we are on different floors, given that Bluetooth travels through walls. This shows 'false positives' or incorrect data."

    Unlike the UK's Covid-19 tracing app, Aarogya Setu is not open source, which means that it cannot be audited for security flaws by independent coders and researchers.

    AAROGYA SETU: LACK OF DATA PRIVACY LAWS, TRANSPARENT POLICIES MAKE APP WORRISOME.
    The government can share the data with "practically anyone it wants".

    Jai Hind

    DisAgree [3] Agree [2] Reply Report Abuse

  • Veer, Nagpur

    Tue, May 26 2020

    This govt is rudderless and clueless on everything. Not doing its due homework and see its proper implementation and study the ground realities its usefulness and short falls.
    Finding place to facade when it's almost out.

    DisAgree [3] Agree [2] Reply Report Abuse


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