CEO Abhishek Singh, of MyGovIndia, which has developed the mobile app Aarogya Setu, has strongly rebutted the charge that the application was developed to “steal” people’s personal data. Singh said, “The Government of India will use the users’ data only for certain critical purposes such as medical emergencies. This apart, the data will not be used for any other work.”
Aarogya Setu app gathers data on people’s location, and cross refer with the ICMR database of COVID-19 to warn the user of if there is any infected person in the vicinity.
The central government has been aggressively pushing the use of Aarogya Setu, but the app is being criticised over privacy standards. It seeks access to location data from the user, and also asks for the user’s name, gender, profession, and countries visited in the last 30 days.
Singh assured that neither anyone’s personal details will be revealed, nor shared with anyone. “User’s data in the app is completely secure. In case of normal people, we delete the data from the server after 30 days. In case of a corona-infected patient, the limit to remove the data is 60 days”, he added.
Singh said that the app uses location data only to track user’s movement, so that he/she can be alerted. “They are also connected to the doctors. Suggestions are given to people, like what steps they should take.” Singh added. (The Print)
