Not only can it have 24x7 camera access, it can read your texts and call logs.

And with it coming pre-installed on android phones, it may even have root permissions which means that it can do anything on the device.

Note the ability to read and modify storage. This is entirely so the government can plant anything on your phone and arrest you later. Perfect solution to curb any political dissent since most courts in India are controlled by the RSS now and you won’t even get a trial for years.

They have made it “deletable” officially but if it has root access then it won’t go away. It still comes pre-installed and the tech illiterate population won’t do shit against this.

    • jackmaoist [none/use name]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
      31·
      3 months ago

      Android market is huge in India. Manufacturers will bend over backwards to sell in India right now. BJP has already used Pegasus to attack journalists and opposition members, this is them attacking the entire population.

  • aanes_appreciator [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    22·
    3 months ago

    It’s kinda funny that the state sanctioned spyware is just politely documenting itself in the Android app manifest. I’m sure if they asked Google nicely they’d be allowed to bypass that shit entirely.

    Also, Android’s success has been in part due to the prevalence of budget-friendly options, such as those promoted under the the android one program: https://www.android.com/one/ … what’s gonna be the deal when these devices start chugging and burning up coz theyre processing gigabytes of sensor data?

    • jackmaoist [none/use name]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
      12·
      3 months ago

      The BJP is mostly incompetent except for when they have the opportunity to fuck Indians over. I doubt that they would ask Google to install Spyware on the OS end with the shit going on between Trump and Modi.

      Their tech incompetency makes this situation worse because I am 100% sure that their backdoor already has multiple backdoors which will allow anyone to steal data from anyone else’s phone or just hold your phone hostage.

      • Korkki@lemmy.mlEnglish
        2·
        3 months ago

        You mean it’s just for spying, or does it serve some function for the user, but also acts as an backdoor?

        • jackmaoist [none/use name]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
          5·
          3 months ago

          It’s Spyware.

          The app basically replicates the capability of Apple Find My. It also lets users check if they have any other phone numbers attached to their identity. Nothing major.

          It doesn’t need background Camera permissions, the ability to read your texts and the ability to read/write on your file system. The latter is very problematic because dissent is basically illegal in India right now.

    • jack [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
      6·
      3 months ago

      Sure, but raising the bar for privacy means that most people will not bother to find a workaround. Your repression doesn’t need to perfect, it just needs to bigger and better than what you had before.

  • Damarcusart [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    9·
    3 months ago

    I know it’s cliche, but imagine if one of America’s designated Bad Guy Countries did this. The news media would never shut up about evil authoritarian China, even more than they already don’t.

  • sewer_rat_420 [he/him, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    6·
    3 months ago

    I would suggest a flip phone or brick type phone, but does India do a lot of app-based payment? I know that going without a smartphone in a place like China where everything in the cities is Wechat or Alipay would be impossible.

    • jackmaoist [none/use name]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
      3·
      3 months ago

      Digital Payments are popular but not Wechat popular. So you can manage with cash.

      But you need whatsapp for all communication nowadays so a rooted android or iPhone seems to be the only option now.