India announced that it will release the source code of its coronavirus tracking app, known as Aarogya Setu.
India's NITI Aayog said it will publish the source code of the Aargoya Setu Android app on GitHub. In addition, there will be a bug bounty program, offering up to $1,325 for reporting vulnerabilities in the app.
The government has urged millions of citizens to download the app on their devices so they can track people who are infected with the virus. In addition to advertising the app, the Indian government has also mandated it in certain industries.
In some cases, it even imposed fines and strict penalties on people who were required to install the app but did not. This, and the influence of the Narendra Modi government, led to over 114 million users downloading Aarogya Setu in just 41 days.
There were also reports that the government would require manufacturers to pre-install the Aarogya Setu app on smartphones sold across the country.
However, the government's insistence on installing the application by as many citizens as possible has made many security experts and privacy advocates particularly concerned about the application's true motives.
Since the app uses location data as well as Bluetooth to track users' contacts, experts are unsure how the government will maintain data security.
A few days ago, it was confirmed that the Aarogya Setu app collects user data and stores the location information of coronavirus patients on government servers. For their part, MIT researchers rated the app with just one star, due to a lack of transparency and extreme data collection.
This led many users to demand that the app be made open source. And now that the government has finally decided to release the source code of Aarogya Setu, the concerns will subside to an extent.
The government also said that the source code for the Aarogya Setu iOS and KaiOS apps will be released in the coming weeks. However, it noted that over 98% of users in the country are using the Android.
