The real digital India is when two political giants enter into a war of words, accusing each other of data theft using mobile App, the Attorney General spoke about security of Unique Identification Number in courts and elections are data driven using dubious British political consulting firms.
BJP spokesperson and Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, had recently warned the Congress of stern action on links with Cambridge Analytica. It was reported that the data of millions of Facebook users had been compromised and used dubiously. The Cambridge Analytica case isn’t just an accusation produced by the rumor mills, as the Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg too accepted, that their data has been misused by Cambridge Analytica. Ravi Shankar Prasad also claimed that the government will summon Mark to India, if required, on sensitive data being leaked.
A twitter handle which goes by the name ‘Elliot Alderson’, had earlier claimed that Narendra Modi android app was sharing personal details of the users to a third party US company Clever Tap.
When you create a profile in the official @narendramodi #Android app, all your device info (OS, network type, Carrier …) and personal data (email, photo, gender, name, …) are send without your consent to a third-party domain called https://t.co/N3zA3QeNZO. pic.twitter.com/Vey3OP6hcf
— Baptiste Robert (@fs0c131y) March 23, 2018
Rahul Gandhi, who dreams to connect MRI throughout the country without foreseeing how badly this was going to bounce back, tweeted this:
Hi! My name is Narendra Modi. I am India's Prime Minister. When you sign up for my official App, I give all your data to my friends in American companies.
Ps. Thanks mainstream media, you're doing a great job of burying this critical story, as always.https://t.co/IZYzkuH1ZH
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 25, 2018
He received a reply from the BJP’s IT cell head Amit Malviya in the same tone:
Hi! My name is Rahul Gandhi. I am the President of India’s oldest political party. When you sign up for our official App, I give all your data to my friends in Singapore. pic.twitter.com/ceCTkod17D
— Amit Malviya (मोदी का परिवार) (@amitmalviya) March 26, 2018
The BJP’s official twitter handle responded to Congress’ claims by stating that the PM’s mobile App is one of its kind that allows users to access it in guest mode, which means the App will not ask for any of your personal details. It also gives you the option to deny any permission to the App to access your data.
This ensures that a user gets the best experience by showing content in his language & interests. A person who looks up agri-related info will get agri related content easily. A person from TN will get updates in Tamil and get an update about an important initiative about TN.
— BJP (@BJP4India) March 25, 2018
The Congress, which has been accused of sharing the details of Indians to British firm Cambridge Analytica for political gains, tried to take it as an opportunity and Ramya urged people to uninstall NaMo app from their phones. It hilariously backfired, as the install of the app actually went up.
Uninstall the Namo App from your phone- Do it now! https://t.co/NQBFJhDSrq
— Ramya/Divya Spandana (@divyaspandana) March 22, 2018
The real game began when the twitter handle of Alderson began exposing Congress a couple of days after his initial tweet and the claims, if true, are grave.
Following are some of the things that the French hacker accuses Congress official app of:
1) Sharing the data through unsecure protocol of HTTP which means that the communication between your browser and website are NOT encrypted
When you apply for membership in the official @INCIndia #android #app, your personal data are send encoded through a HTTP request to https://t.co/t1pidQUmtq. pic.twitter.com/6RH0ORYrQd
— Baptiste Robert (@fs0c131y) March 26, 2018
2) The data that flows through Congress app is encoded weakly and can be easily decoded:
Moreover, the personal data are encoding with base 64. This is not encryption! Decode this data is very easy as shown in the example. pic.twitter.com/yDWawN2YiR
— Baptiste Robert (@fs0c131y) March 26, 2018
3) Servers of the App located outside India in Singapore i.e. not trusting our own country:
The IP address of https://t.co/t1pidQUmtq is 52.77.237.47. This server is located in Singapore. As you are an #Indian political party, having your server in #India is probably a good idea. pic.twitter.com/tbspCtOPfB
— Baptiste Robert (@fs0c131y) March 26, 2018
Amit Malviya, too in his series of tweets exposing the privacy policy of Congress app, stated that the party is sharing details with rather too many third party vendors.
When Congress says they will share your data with like-minded groups, the implications are grave. From Maoists, stone pelters, Bharat Ke Tukde Gang, Chinese embassy to globally ‘renowned’ orgs like Cambridge Analytica, the field is extensive and wide open. pic.twitter.com/E6S8MJwgiy
— Amit Malviya (मोदी का परिवार) (@amitmalviya) March 26, 2018
Narendra Modi app, on the other hand, has contract with an Indian firm Wizrocket India and their servers too are located in India.
When Dr. Subramanian Swamy calls Rahul Gandhi a ‘Buddhu’ and New York Times calls him “terrible”, they do it for a reason. Rahul Gandhi, who was recently exposed on his lack of knowledge about the NCC that grooms youth who can later join the defense forces, tried to give his ignorance a twist. He tweeted that the NCC cadets are being forced to download the app. He went on with false accusations of app secretly recording audio, video, contact details and GPS location.
Modi’s NaMo App secretly records audio, video, contacts of your friends & family and even tracks your location via GPS.
He’s the Big Boss who likes to spy on Indians.
Now he wants data on our children. 13 lakh NCC cadets are being forced to download the APP.#DeleteNaMoApp
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 26, 2018
He was immediately met by a counter tweet from @fs0c131y, stating:
I’m taking this as a challenge. There is no secret on Android and if it is true, it can be proved https://t.co/qCdhNluDcE
— Baptiste Robert (@fs0c131y) March 26, 2018
And the hilarious part of all the drama created by Rahul-Ramya duo is, Congress ended up deleting their mobile Application from Google Play Store and their INC membership website. On the other hand NaMo app seeing a rapid rise in downloads.
INC membership website no longer available. Message you will get “We are incorporating minor changes to the website. Please visit us again in a while to access the INC membership process…” What is the Congress party trying to hide? https://t.co/siVExc6T68
— Amit Malviya (मोदी का परिवार) (@amitmalviya) March 26, 2018
We all know that Rahul Gandhi is no match for Narendra Modi. But seeing his fright about the Namo App, is very amusing. When his bots tried to trend #DeleteNamoApp day before yesterday, the popularity and downloads of Namo App only increased. Today, it will be no different! pic.twitter.com/Wnan0IQFIV
— BJP (@BJP4India) March 25, 2018
