Arogya seru and privacy issueArogya seru and privacy issueArogya seru and privacy issue

1. Arogya Setu Application
The data security & legal issues surrounding it.
Bilai – UPSC Study.

2. What data is collected?
• Location / Places visited by the user. People with whom they have
come into contact.
• Prevailing medical conditions & Sex.
GS 2 – Rights Issue.

3. What is the issue?
• Arogya Setu App has a database of 13000 COVID 19 positive
patients.
• Many experts are raising their concern over the security of the data
collected and uploaded via the Arogya Setu App.
• Some are concerned that the data may be used for mass surveillance.
• Some are concerned because these data can be used to deny entry into
public places to the suspected people.
• It may lead to a discrimination of the persons concerned. It may even
lead to personal injury.
GS 2 – Rights Issue.
GS 3 – SnT.

4. What is the issue?
• It also has a legal issue surrounding it. Because privacy is a fundamental right
(Article 21) according to a Judgement passed by the SC in 2018 which makes it
difficult for the govt. to violate it easily.
• Although the word privacy is a broad term yet there is no ambiguity that it
includes information related to “Sex / Gender”, “Address”, Medical conditions,
sensitive personal information, demographic data, and so on.
• So is it justified on the part of the govt. to collect data that is being flagged by
many as breaching of privacy of the people?
• Most importantly, India does not yet have a “Personal Data Protection Law”.
GS 2 – Rights Issue.

5. What is the issue?
• The government had recently notified that it will be mandatory for the
government employees, repatriated NRIs and Migrant workers and train
travelers to install this application on their phone. This actually brings us to a
major question. Can the government or the executive make it mandatory without
legislative backing?
• This application also has a reliability issue. Because it mainly depends on the
self-assessment data of the users which may be subjected to manipulation or
may not be true.
GS 2 – Rights Issue.

6. Recent Highlight.
• Ethical Hacker with the name – Elliot Anderson tagged the Aryogra
Setu team highlighting the security flaw in the app which let him
know the health condition many persons in the PMO
• He also said that he could even get information at an area-specific
level e.g. which person of a particular area is sick or ill.
• If this happens to be true, it may lead to serious violation of Privacy
Rights, a fundamental right, of the people.
GS 2 – Rights Issue.
GS 3 – SnT.

7. Government Response
1. For how long is the data preserved? It is preserved for 30 days in the case
of a normal person, 45 days for quarantined people, and 60 days in the case
of those who tested positive.
2. Which data is uploaded to the server? Only the data of those who tested
positive. The data is mapped to help the district and state authorities to take
appropriate steps to contain the potential hotspots.
3. Who collects the data? NIC
4. The govt. has clarified that the data will not be used for purposes other than
tackling the COVID 19 Pandemic.
GS 2 – Rights Issue.

8. Thank you !
• Please subscribe to “Bilai – UPSC Study” to get updates on the latest current
affairs for UPSC CSE.
• Please Join “Bilai-UPSC Study” telegram group to download study materials in
PDF format.