Apple reportedly won’t comply with a government order in India to preload iPhones with a state-run app that can track and block lost or stolen phones via a device’s International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) code. While the government describes it as a tool to help consumers, privacy advocates say it could easily be repurposed for surveillance.
Reuters reported today, citing three anonymous sources, that “Apple does not plan to comply with a mandate to preload its smartphones with a state-owned cyber safety app and will convey its concerns to New Delhi.” Reuters noted that the government mandate has “sparked surveillance concerns and a political uproar.”
The government’s Sanchar Saathi (“Communication Partner”) app is billed as a consumer tool for reporting suspected fraud communications, verifying the genuineness of a phone, and blocking lost or stolen handsets. The app can already be installed by users as it is available on the Apple and Google Play app stores, but the government wants device makers such as Apple, Google, Samsung, and Xiaomi to load phones with the app before they are shipped.
Apple “will tell the government it does not follow such mandates anywhere in the world as they raise a host of privacy and security issues for the company’s iOS ecosystem, said two of the industry sources who are familiar with Apple’s concerns,” Reuters wrote. One source “said Apple does not plan to go to court or take a public stand, but it will tell the government it cannot follow the order because of security vulnerabilities.”
App functions may not be “disabled or restricted”
While Apple may not initiate litigation itself, India’s government could try to force Apple to comply. India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) said yesterday that the app must be “pre-installed on all mobile handsets manufactured or imported for use in India.”