Covid-19: Government launches Aarogya Setu app to track cases

Launched under the banner of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTY), the app seems to have replaced the Corona Kavach app that MeiTY had brought out earlier.

The app lets users check whether they have been in contact with infected people by using location and bluetooth data from smartphones. The app requires users to give continuous access to their smartphone’s location that would let it figure out where the user has been. The bluetooth location lets users figure out a person’s proximity to others.

Aarogya Setu is available in 11 languages, including English, Hindi, Bangla and Marathi. It is one of many location-based surveillance apps that have been launched by governments across the world to help with contact tracing efforts for covid-19. “Your data is shared only with the Government of India. The app does not allow your name and number to be disclosed to the public at large at any time," says a disclaimer on the App Permissions page of the application, on Android.

While location-based apps have been launched by many, these have raised questions about privacy and government surveillance. These apps could theoretically log a users' location like Google Maps does, and let governments use that data to track people's lives. Privacy group, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), has noted there’s no proof that such apps could significantly help in contact tracing efforts.

In a blog post, the EFF had said governments have done nothing to show that location surveillance will make a significant difference in containing the virus. “Unless they can, there’s no justification for their intrusions on privacy and free speech, or the disparate impact these intrusions would have on vulnerable groups. Indeed, governments have not even been transparent about their plans and rationales," the foundation wrote.