This is not going to end well. India is on its way fully to become China. Only the rich can have privacy because they can always go out of the country and buy a phone they want and use that instead.
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This is more of a reason to buy Pixels (and more later) and stick with GrapheneOS - no matter where you live. The degradation of civil liberties is coming for all.
@Quantum see, its shit like this is why everyone might as well start learning to use the DIY Graphene. iOS is not going to be the one for most for long - if privacy or security is at all valued. (sorry to call you out, tagging only cause you expressed your preference and I wanted to reiterate why iOS should not be the one to choose as we progress into the surveillance world - and since you’re the last person with whom I disagreed on this)
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It seems like India is trying to crackdown on fraud and stolen phones by remotely tracking and blocking them from internet access. I am a quite concerned about this feature:
A 14- to 17-digit number unique to each handset, the IMEI, or International Mobile Equipment Identity, is most commonly used to cut off network access for phones reported to have been stolen.
The app is mainly designed to help users block and track lost or stolen smartphones across all telecom networks, using a central registry. It also lets them identify, and disconnect, fraudulent mobile connections.
I hope you also know this also portends to and opens to other governmental interference (with the precedent) in your private lives in more ways currently fathomable. The official rationale is always innocuous enough but that’s how it starts.
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We both agree here (if that was not obvious lol). I am just pointing out said rationale and giving context on a concerning feature.
Anyways, I find it funny that terminology like cyber crime and cyber safety is just another way of banning things that violates the official government position. It is clear that the Indian government can and will use this app to shutdown internet access for people who have it installed.
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Hacker News thread:
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Even China didn’t mandate a government apps on all phones. I have no doubt china put backdoors in (Chinese version of) Chinese android phones (idk if we have proof though) but I am not aware of such backdoors from Apple.
Google might not be concerned. In any case, if you live in India, you will now have to weight between updating and get spyware or not updating and having an insecure phone.
If you have an Android phone they are a couple of options against it:
- Xiaomi and some other Chinese OEMS phones: Put an alternative ROM on your device.
- Other users: Learn to use ADB. You can disable any app with it.There are also friendly tools to do this.
There will be a black market for smartphones bought outside India. It’s almost a guarantee.
But given the low tech literacy rate for the majority of the country, only the knowledgeable are going to care to make efforts to get one that’s free from this BS.
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I guess you are right.
The question is : will it work? Will it really reduce scams by a significant amount?
If not - and if India still is a democracy - then hopefully this would be scrapped.
India is a flawed democracy. Just like the US.
It may work. But it’s still too high a price when civil liberties are already being attacked and taken away by the year with one thing or the other.
Few are going to be mindful of the consequences of this and fewer will fight this on the legislative level. I hope I’m wrong but the government does do what it wants.
Not to mention, this will give ideas to other countries. And they’ll try. And we’ll have to fight them on that as we did with Chat Control and other things we do. But they’ll keep coming.
Like I’ve said several times before, death by a thousand cuts. Slowly but surely.
Sad state of affairs.
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There is no doubt that this app will be used to censor and surveil the populace since the use case this app serves does not require it to be preloaded at all. The Government of India is speedrunning to destroy personal liberties (whatever of it exists in India) before the current regime goes out of power.
I showed the news to my Indian colleague. After the lunch break, he came and showed me 4 iPhones that he had bought for his family. I told him not to send them until we know how it will be handled. 
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Should have told him the opposite. Might as well send them sooner than later no matter how it will be handled.
Do we have any details on how that update will reach existing phones?
They can’t do anything to existing phones. Only new sales after 3 months onward, as far as I understand.
But here’s a small update:
Seems like companies will try to fight so that’s a good sign.
Okay. Thanks. I sent the link.
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They want the OEMs to push the app through software updates for phones already in the “supply chain”.
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I see. Perhaps I missed that. But I’m not shocked.
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GrapheneOS is the way to go people! Heed before its too late. But we should still keep fighting against shit like this.
Absolutely, but I think they will also try to “persuade” companies to restrict bootloader unlocking in the near future.
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