🇮🇳 NO WAY TO OPT OUT: INDIA’S PLAN TO TURN PHONES INTO PERMANENT TRACKING DEVICES
Imagine your phone’s location tracking on 24/7 with no off switch.
That’s what India’s government is considering after telecom companies pitched a wild idea: force every smartphone to have always-active GPS for “better surveillance.”
Indian authorities complain they can’t track people precisely enough during investigations.
Cell tower data only gets them within several meters. Not good enough, apparently.
So telecom giants like Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel want the government to mandate A-GPS (the really accurate satellite tracking) be permanently switched on.
You couldn’t turn it off. Ever.
Apple, Google, and Samsung told New Delhi to pump the brakes.
Their industry group called it “regulatory overreach” and warned it would turn phones into “dedicated surveillance devices.”
A British forensics expert explained that your phone would literally become a tracking beacon.
Privacy advocates are calling the proposal “horrifying.” It has no precedent anywhere globally. Even Russia’s surveillance measures don’t go this far.
India just backed down from forcing a government cyber app on all phones after public outcry.
This GPS tracking fight is round 2, and it’s just getting started.
Source: Reuters