Govt considers always-on phone location tracking

APPLE, GOOGLE, SAMSUNG OPPOSE PROPOSAL

- ADITYA KALRA & MUNSIF VENGATTIL

THE GOVERNMENT IS reviewing a telecom industry proposal to force smartphone firms to enable satellite location tracking that is always activated for better surveillance, a move opposed by Apple, Google and Samsung due to privacy concerns, according to documents, emails and five sources.

A fierce privacy debate erupted in India this week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government was forced to rescind an order requiring smartphone makers to preload a state-run cyber safety app on all devices after activists and politicians raised concerns about potential snooping.

For years, the Modi administration has been concerned its agencies do not get precise locations when legal requests are made to telecom firms during investigations.