The telecom ministry issued an order requiring phone manufacturers to pre-install Sanchar Saathi, a cybersecurity app developed by the state. 

Then, it changed its mind less than a week later, after criticism arose in many corners—the Opposition, civil-liberties groups, and companies that make phones.

India’s rapid digitisation is a positive development, but it also comes with opportunities for bad actors to commit fraud. The government wants this infrastructure to be safe for everyone, but the way it tried to go about it ruffled everyone’s feathers. Forcing a cybersecurity app onto every phone, after all, looks a lot like surveillance by default.

Meanwhile, there is a real threat—digital arrest, where fraudsters impersonate law-enforcement officials and convince their victims to part with vast sums of cash, is a common scam.

The Ken contributor Srikanth Rajagopalan offers a few ways to mitigate fraud without infringing on personal privacy in this edition of Make India Competitive Again, as read by Snigdha Sharma.

*

This is the final episode of the Make India Competitive Again podcast. The newsletter will continue to be published every Monday morning. Subscribe here to keep up with timely commentary from The Ken: https://the-ken.com/newsletters/ 

*

Read this edition as a newsletter: https://the-ken.com/newsletter/make-india-competitive-again/digital-fraud-is-a-human-problem-theres-no-app-for-that/

Download our app and subscribe to The Ken to listen to all our podcasts:

iOS: https://apps.apple.com/in/app/the-ken/id1282944688 

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ken.core&hl=en&gl=US&pli=1 

Check out Make India Competitive Again on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/5yxzxRmN7idKJen5QdezPl

Or Apple Podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/make-india-competitive-again-premium/id1810672381