India says 75M+ people downloaded its contact tracing app, but privacy advocates worry about its potential as a tool for state surveillance beyond the pandemic
the app will soon include state-issued e-passes to let people move around the country + gig workers are already required to have it installed https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... @PranavDixit Sarah Emerson / @sarahnemerson : “But in a worst-case scenario, the US could become a wild west of incompatible contact tracing apps that vary from state to state and city to city, managed by companies with no public health experience that rake in cash via government contracts...” 👆👆👆 https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... Ben Adida / @benadida : We should be skeptical of contact tracing apps. They're new, they may not work as we hope. But a mistake to declare them useless out of the gate. Article says apps *were* useful in Singapore & South Korea. It's not just techies: public health departments are clearly interested. https://twitter.com/... Stephanie M. Lee / @stephaniemlee : Indians aren't legally required to install the government's coronavirus contact-tracing app — but they may not have a choice. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... via @PranavDixit Tom Gara / @tomgara : Anyhow the good news is the way to crush the coronavirus is relatively straightforward and doable and mostly requires resources and people and political will https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... Siva Vaidhyanathan / @sivavaid : ""My problem with contact tracing apps is that they have absolutely no value," said Bruce Schneier. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ...
BuzzFeed NewsPranav Dixit
Context & Ripple Effects
India's contact tracing app has reached 75M+ downloads, but the story is less the number than what the app is becoming: the government plans to fold state-issued e-passes for intercity movement into it, and gig workers are reportedly already required to have it installed. That follows the template set when China and South Korea first used smartphones to track COVID-19 and researchers worldwide began copying the approach.
The privacy critique — that a pandemic tool is hard to unwind — lands differently depending on the deployment model. India runs a single national app with state mandates attached; the US is instead pursuing a fragmented state-by-state approach that critics warn creates its own security, privacy, and interoperability problems.
First-order effects
Gig workers in India now face the app as a condition of work, and anyone seeking an e-pass to move between states will need it — turning a voluntary health tool into mandatory infrastructure for mobility and employment.
Second-order effects
The US contrast sharpens: with most states retreating from apps and the few deployed ones struggling with weak adoption, vendors and public health officials watch India's centralized model as the alternative path — one that trades adoption friction for surveillance risk.
Third-order effects
If e-pass integration holds, the app's post-pandemic persistence becomes the test case for whether emergency health infrastructure normalizes into routine state surveillance — a precedent other governments building tracing apps, per the dozens now in use or development, can point to.
The trend: Pandemic-era contact tracing apps are drifting from voluntary health tools toward mandatory state infrastructure, with India's national-scale deployment as the leading edge.
Bruce Schneier agrees that Contact Tracing Apps are mostly healthcare theatre. They exist so governments can claim action and Tech has something to do. https://twitter.com/...
« It has nothing to do with privacy concerns. The idea that contact tracing can be done with an app, and not human health professionals, is just plain dumb. » https://twitter.com/...
'My problem with contact tracing apps is they have absolutely no value," Bruce Schneier, a privacy expert at Harvard University. “I'm not even talking about the privacy concerns, I mean the efficacy. Does anybody think this will do something useful?'↘️ https://www.buzzfeednews.co…
The efficacy of app-based contact tracing hasn't been proven. “This is just something governments want to do for the hell of it” privacy expert Bruce Schneier told me. “To me, it's just techies doing techie things because they don't know what else to do.” https://www.buzzfeednews…
Remember how Aadhaar was voluntarybut was later required to access essential services and became “voluntary-mandatory”? Aarogya Setu might be on the same track. For gig delivery workers, it's a choice between installing the app and earning a living. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ …
New from me: Nobody in India is required to install the government's Aarogya Setu contact tracing app yet. But soon, you may not have a choice. You may need to show it to enter pharmacies, use public transport, and just live a normal life, experts fear. https://twitter.com/...
More than 75 million people have downloaded the Aarogya Setu app so far. The government is not going to let go of this huge install base, @nixxin said. “This is an opportunity they've been waiting for.” https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ...
in India, contact tracing apps started out as voluntary but have rapidly become pretty much mandatory—the app will soon include state-issued e-passes to let people move around the country + gig workers are already required to have it installed https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... @P…
“But in a worst-case scenario, the US could become a wild west of incompatible contact tracing apps that vary from state to state and city to city, managed by companies with no public health experience that rake in cash via government contracts...” 👆👆👆 https://www.buzzfeednews.co…
We should be skeptical of contact tracing apps. They're new, they may not work as we hope. But a mistake to declare them useless out of the gate. Article says apps *were* useful in Singapore & South Korea. It's not just techies: public health departments are clearly interested. h…
Indians aren't legally required to install the government's coronavirus contact-tracing app — but they may not have a choice. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... via @PranavDixit
Anyhow the good news is the way to crush the coronavirus is relatively straightforward and doable and mostly requires resources and people and political will https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ...