India Fights Corona: Govt Fixes Privacy Issues In Aarogya Setu App

New Delhi: The government has fixed the privacy bugs in the Aarogya Setu app launched for contact tracing of the coronavirus cases.

The older version of the app gave the government access to unnecessary information shared via Bluetooth and GPS which is against privacy laws.

In the update, the government has fixed some issues related to data collection, management, and retention.

The government has dedicated a secure server to manage the data which will be masked with a unique digital ID (DID), which will categorize a user as anonymous.

The DID has been co-related to personal information only to communicate the probability that a user has been infected with COVID-19.

Earlier when two users were in proximity to each other, the app shared the data without clearly specifying the form that it is saved on other devices. But with the update, the privacy policy reads that only DIDs will be transferred and other users will not get access to the information saved.

“Nothing set out herein shall apply to medical reports, diagnoses, or other medical information generated by medical professionals in the course of treatment,” the policy says on the data use.

Moreover, the data from the app will be erased after 30-days for people who have not tested positive for coronavirus. And those who test positive, the data will be uploaded on the server and will be erased 60 days after they are cured.