Aarogya Setu app: Data safe, for limited period, says Ravi Shankar Prasad | Economic Times

New Delhi: Communications and information technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad dismissed privacy and security concerns over the Aarogya Setu app, saying it was completely safe and that all stored data would be deleted once the Covid-19 crisis was over.“This app is completely safe and secure—data is secured for a very limited purpose and for a very limited period of time,” Prasad told ET. “This helps avoid your contact with a person who is inflicted and the whole purpose of this app is to protect you.”He added that the information was fully encrypted and there was no need for people to panic about safety issues. He pointed out that such apps were part of standard practices across the world as countries tackle the coronavirus outbreak. “This is a completely Covid-centric app,” Prasad said.The Aarogya Setu app, which was developed by the government to track those with the disease and alert people about their proximity, has given rise to fears of surveillance by the state as well as the security of the personal data that a user needs to fill in after downloading it. It also sparked a clash between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition Congress party.Untitled Carousel 75566481Data Anonymised, Encrypted: OfficialThe concerns were heightened after a home ministry notification on May 1 mandating the use of app by all employees while holding heads of respective organisations liable for 100% coverage. Any negligence, if proven, on the part of a director, manager, secretary or any other official shall lead to punishment, it said.MAIT, a lobby group of hardware makers that includes global technology companies such as Cisco, Dell, Intel and Canon, said it will ask the government to withdraw this clause.A senior government official said there was no need for employers to fear punitive action as long as their guidelines for staff explicitly stated that they needed to download the app.Most of the data would be deleted in 30 days and information pertaining to Covid-positive people would be deleted in 60 days, the official said. He added that whatever data remained would be deleted once the crisis ended.Police in Noida said Tuesday they would take action against anyone found on the roads without the app on their smartphones during random checks. It was unclear what this would entail for people who didn’t have smartphones.“Let us make this absolutely clear that the data is not shared with anyone,” said the official cited above. “All data is anonymised, your personal information is encrypted. It creates an anonymous device ID. All future interactions happen with the anonymised device id, and then for most people data remains on the phone only.”Almost 90 million people have downloaded the app and only the data of those who have tested positive will be pushed to the servers. “If the number of positive people is 45,000 or 46,000 right now, then the data of only these 46,000 people--provided they have downloaded the app--will go on to the server.”GPS CHOICEOn the app using GPS, the official said, “We really have no choice right now… We tried to use cell towers but that was in impractical solution.” Some rights groups have said the use of GPS would allow the app to be used as a surveillance tool.The officer explained that cell towers have a radius of just 2 kilometres.“So, bluetooth and GPS together help us track all the places where a person has visited and this data then can be shared with the authorities who are able to zero it down to smaller areas and then we are able to focus the testing there, else it will become a herculean task for us,” the official said.As people have started going to offices and factories, it is the responsibility of the government to ensure that they stay safe and at a distance from the virus, which the app tries to ensure, he said.Confirming that some data has begun flowing into servers from the app, the official said there has to be a balance between absolute privacy and saving lives. “Article 14 (of the constitution) is crucial but so is Article 21, the right to life… These are exceptional circumstances,” he said. Article 14 relates to equality before the law.The official added that the app was developed in just 15 days and the government is constantly trying to improve on it.