India's smartphone security proposal faces backlash over privacy concerns

By Munsif Vengattil and Aditya Kalra

BENGALURU, ⁠Jan 13 (Reuters) - The ⁠Indian ‍government's plan requiring smartphone makers to share source code as part of a raft of new security measures has drawn criticism from privacy advocates and technology experts ‍over fears of heightened surveillance.

Companies including Apple and Samsung have privately protested ​the proposed package of security standards, which also includes a requirement to maintain phone logs on devices for a ​year, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing a review of confidential government and industry documents.

The proposal is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's efforts to boost security of user data as online fraud and data breaches increase ​in the world's second-largest smartphone market, with nearly 750 million phones.

India's IT ministry has said "any legitimate concerns of the industry will be addressed with an open mind" and consultations were ​ongoing. It also refuted that it was considering seeking source code, without commenting on the government or industry documents cited by ‌Reuters.

The Internet Freedom Foundation, a privacy and free speech rights organisation, said it "strongly rejects any proposed regime that effectively grants the state access to confidential ​source code and embeds persistent controls into devices ⁠used daily by hundreds of millions of Indians".

"The proposals seek to micromanage how users interact with their own devices," IFF added in a statement.

India's IT ‌ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The ministry called off a meeting scheduled for Tuesday with the tech giants to discuss their feedback and concerns about the proposal, according to ‌three people with direct knowledge.

Seeking source code - the underlying programming instructions that make phones work - erodes trust and "is a ‌massive step backwards from India's goal of improving the ease of doing business," said Akash Karmakar, a partner at Indian law firm Panag & Babu who specialises in technology law.

Last month, India revoked an order mandating ‍a state-run cybersecurity app on phones following opposition from opposition parties and privacy advocacy groups.

The latest proposal says tech companies should inform Indian officials ⁠before releasing security updates and they can test them if they want.

That creates a conflict of interest as it allows the state to act as a regulator while potentially exploiting vulnerabilities for surveillance, said Raman Jit Singh Chima, global cybersecurity lead at internet advocacy group, Access Now.

(Reporting by Munsif Vengattil and Aditya Kalra; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

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