Digital Strike

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The digital sector plays an important role in the development of the economy and is the electronic backbone for a country. With the recent banning of China apps, India needs to recognize the importance and strike a balance between the protection of the country’s sovereignty and integrity as well as the country’s growth and development in the digital sector.

Content:

In news:

• The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has banned  43 new Chinese mobile apps under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act.
• This action was taken based on the inputs regarding these apps for engaging in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order.
• The order was issued based on comprehensive reports received from Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center, Ministry of Home Affairs.

Two previous instances of Digital Strike:

Following the strain in relations between two countries after the bloody clash at Galwan valley, the Indian government had banned 59 apps on June 29, 2020, and on September 2 it had banned 118 more apps. So far, India has banned 224 China-based apps in a bid to lessen its economic engagement with China and lay major impetus on homegrown products and services. The move helps in pushing for local development of products, apps and services under Atmanirbhar Bharat scheme.

Grounds of Ban:

• Biggest security concern is that a lot of apps on smartphones collect massive amounts of data which has nothing to do with the service it provides and it takes several security-sensitive and intrusive permissions which the user doesn’t understand but ends up agreeing to.
• Several citizens had reportedly raised concerns in representations to the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) regarding security of data and loss of privacy in using these apps.
• The MeITy had received “exhaustive recommendations” from the Home Ministry’s Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre.
• The notification issued by the Ministry has characterized the applications which are banned as “malicious”, indicating several complaints against these applications of unauthorized transmission of user data to the servers outside India.

Procedure of ban :

Under Section 69A of the IT Act, 2000, the government can ban apps under normal and emergency clauses.

• Under the emergency route, content can be blocked on the directions of the Secretary, Department of IT, who must consider the impugned content and record his reasons for doing so. The order of the Secretary must be placed before the government committee within 48 hours. Based on the recommendations of this committee, the order can then be finalised or vacated.
• In the normal course, an order to block content requires: (a) a decision to be made by a government committee (b) relevant intermediaries to be given an opportunity to be heard by this committee. These processes are not required when emergency provisions are used.

Rule 16 of the Blocking rules under IT act requires strict confidentiality to be maintained regarding blocking requests, complaints received, and actions taken. However, as recognised by the Supreme Court in the Anuradha Bhasin case, publishing such orders is the only way in which the reasons and rationale for the decision can be judged.

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