India reportedly reviewing telecom industry's proposal for always-on satellite location tracking on smartphones

There have been a lot of discussions and outcry in India recently over the central government's directive asking smartphone makers to pre-load its cyber safety app Sanchar Saathi on all new devices, and just when we thought that the dust had settled down since the government withdrew the mandate, we are now seeing a new report that could spark yet another debate in the country while raising security and privacy concerns.

According to Reuters, the Indian government is reviewing a proposal by the telecom industry to require smartphone companies to keep satellite location tracking enabled at all times for better tracking.

The report states the Indian government, for years, has been concerned about its agencies not getting precise locations when legal requests are made to telecom operators during investigations, and that's because the telecom firms are limited to using cellular tower data, which can be off by several meters since it can only provide an estimated area location.

Hence, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), representing Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, proposed that the government order smartphone makers to activate A-GPS, which uses satellite signals and cellular data. This would require satellite tracking to remain active on smartphones at all times, with no option for users to disable it.

Apple, Samsung, and Google opposed this proposal and told the government that always-on satellite tracking should not be mandated, with the lobbying group India Cellular & Electronics Association (ICEA), representing Apple and Google, saying "A measure to track device-level location has no precedent anywhere else in the world," in a confidential letter to the Indian government in July.

ICEA also argued in its letter that there are significant "legal, privacy, and national security concerns" with the telecom group's proposal, and a mandate for always-on A-GPS for precise location tracking "would be a regulatory overreach."

That said, the telecom group not only proposed A-GPS activation but also has problems with older location-tracking methods, as smartphone companies display a pop-up message to alert users when a network carrier is trying to access their location.

The telecom group argued that a "target can easily ascertain that he is being tracked by security agencies," and urged the government to order smartphone manufacturers to disable the pop-up features.

On that matter, ICEA argued in its letter to the Indian government that "privacy concerns should take priority and India should also not consider disabling the pop-ups."

Reuters claims that India's home ministry had scheduled a meeting of top smartphone industry executives on Friday to discuss the matter, but it was postponed.

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