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homehealthcare NewsAarogya Setu FAQ: Govt answers most pressing questions about the app

Aarogya Setu FAQ: Govt answers most pressing questions about the app

Who has access to data from Aarogya Setu? How long will the data be stored on devices and servers? Top bureaucrat answers.

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By Megha Vishwanath  May 12, 2020 6:57:26 PM IST (Updated)

Listen to the Article(6 Minutes)
Aarogya Setu FAQ: Govt answers most pressing questions about the app
With the government's Aarogya Setu app being made mandatory for some people in the country, and amid questions of privacy and security being raised over the app, CNBC-TV18's Megha Vishwanath spoke to Ajay Kumar Sawhney, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Lalitesh Katragadda, advisor to the government on the app.

Here are the six most important questions that were answered by them.
Q: Who is in charge of the Aarogya Setu app and responsible for its security?
A: "As the Chairperson of the Empowered Committee for Technology and Data Management, the buck stops with me," said the MeitY Secretary.
Q: Why was Aarogya Setu usage made compulsory by the Ministry of Home Affairs? Did the designers on the app know this while building the app?
A: "My understanding is that the app has been made mandatory only in cases where other people can be put on risk. There have been concerns based on two lines in a policy document (which call for all organisations to ensure their employees have the app). The better thing would be to get this clarified," said Katragadda.
Q: The government says the Aarogya Setu app only takes Bluetooth data & GPS data and that no other data from the phone will be used. But, not using other data is different from having access to other data.
A: "Data pertaining to bluetooth and contacts is kept on your phone in an encrypted manner and is pulled to the server only if someone looks positive," says Sahwney.
Q: Why did the government choose to take access to GPS when other apps worldwide don't?
A: "Other apps are used only for contact tracing. Aarogya Setu does much more, such as syndromic mapping," said Katragadda.
Q: Which government officials have access to the data, especially data such as user locations through GPS?
A: "The data is anonymised and then processed by data scientists to build a map of potential and emerging hotspots," says Katragadda.
Q: How long will the data be stored on the mobile device and the server?
A: "Data which was stored 31 days ago will be removed from your mobile," said the MeitY secretary.
Q:
First Published: May 12, 2020 6:55 PM IST
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