NEW DELHI: With the Centre making it mandatory for all office-goers to download the Aarogya Setu app, as many as 45 organisations and over 100 individuals have sent a joint representation to the Prime Minister’s Office raising safety and privacy concerns and also taking umbrage over ‘penal provisions’.
Data privacy advocacy group Internet Freedom Foundation, Amnesty India, Common Cause and Jan Swasthya Abhiyan are among the organisations that have come together and sent a joint representation to PMO.
It says that under the order, violation of the government direction can lead to criminal penalties and thereby, Aarogya Setu now not only impacts the data privacy of workers and can lead to risks of exclusion and misidentification, but a person can also be charged with criminal offence if he or she does not download the app.
“This marks a dramatic and clear shift in government policy on Aarogya Setu from ‘encouragement’ towards ‘coercion’ and increases the legitimacy of the demands articulated by the joint representation,” letter said. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also expressed concerns about the app.
“The Arogya Setu app, is a sophisticated surveillance system, outsourced to a pvt operator, with no institutional oversight - raising serious data security & privacy concerns. Technology can help keep us safe; but fear must not be leveraged to track citizens without their consent,” he tweeted.