Government faces backlash over location-tracking proposal
The Indian government is pushing a telecom industry proposal that will compel smartphone companies to allow satellite location tracking that will be activated 24×7 for surveillance.
Tech giants Samsung, Google, and Apple have opposed this move due to privacy concerns. Privacy debates have stirred in India after the government was forced to repeal an order that mandated smartphone companies to pre-install a state run cyber safety application on all devices. Activists and opposition raised concerns about possible spying.
About the proposal
Recently, the government had been concerned that agencies didn’t get accurate locations when legal requests were sent to telecom companies during investigations. Currently, the firm only uses cellular tower data that provides estimated area location, this can be sometimes inaccurate.
The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) representing Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio suggested accurate user locations be provided if the government mandates smartphone firms to turn on A-GPS technology which uses cellular data and satellite signals.
Strong opposition from tech giants
If this is implemented, location services will be activated in smartphones with no disable option. Samsung, Google, and Apple strongly oppose this proposal. A proposal to track user location is not present anywhere else in the world, according to lobbyi
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