Sanchar Sathi is unnecessary app and a waste of government money, it does not serve any purpose except data collection

In India, whenever there is any discussion regarding digital, users’ rights and privacy, there is an uproar. It starts on a serious note but soon turns into a conversation that shoots down whichever direction and corner it enters. The latest example of this is the discussion from all sides on social media regarding Sanchar Sathi app. Most of these arguments, such as “you can give data to Instagram but not to the partner”, are boring repetitions of the same old blah blah. But some may seem more consistent, such as “You may disagree with government pressure but Sanchar Saathi is a useful app.” But is it so?

Many people defending the government order to impose communications companionship on phone users begin their argument with a throat-clearing. They acknowledge that there is no need to force an app. And then they say: “But, having said all that, Communication Partner is a useful app and there’s no harm in having it on the phone.” In the last 24 hours, the same argument has been made by the Department of Telecommunications, which has been quick to highlight the “advantages” of the Sanchar Saathi app.

Still, amidst this, some people saw that Companion is an unnecessary app. It makes big claims, it offers functionality that is extravagant and performative. Actually, this app is a waste of government resources and taxpayers’ money.

Let me explain how Communication Partner is redundant and analyze its functionality (in the way the apps describe on their website):

Claim: Can you block your lost or stolen handset with Communication Partner?

reality: Imagine this – your phone comes with the Sanchar Saathi app pre-installed, on which you can report your stolen or lost phone. Nice efficiency, right? Now, you lose this phone. So, how do you report a lost phone or block it? The app was on your lost phone. Instead, you will report your loss through its website if you wish to do so. So, the question is: how does a pre-installed app help here?

Another question: Do you really need the communication to block or report your phone? The functionality of the companion app is demonstrative. This is for two reasons. One, iPhone and Android phones nowadays provide more robust and unbreakable, lock and tracking protection. Features like Find My in iPhone and Find My Device in Android not only allow tracking of lost devices even when they are turned off, but also provide the ability to make them unusable to thieves by remotely wiping them.

In fact, Apple’s implementation of theft protection is so strong that the company offers free iPhone replacement – ​​allowed twice a year – if you have Apple Care+ service. It is also offered in India where the chances of people doing this kind of misuse are very high. Nevertheless, Apple is confident that if a device is marked lost by a user the phone will become worthless, so worthless that even its internal parts will be of no use to thieves.

So, why do you need Communications Partner to report your lost or stolen phone? You don’t really do that. This is an executive action that will block your phone’s IMEI number from the telecom companies’ networks. And as mentioned earlier, once your phone is lost, you’ll likely be doing so through the companion website.

What about tracing the phone? You don’t need communication for that. You need a police department willing to trace the phone. Just see how quickly a minister or his relative’s phone is lost. In such a situation, the police does not ask whether communication was installed on the phone or not. But if you lose your phone and even if you use Find My Device to tell the police its exact latitude and longitude, chances are they won’t recover it.

Claim: Report suspected fraudulent communications (SMS, calls and web links)

reality: This is again performative action and there are better ways to do it. Airtel and Jio are already using one such method. They identify suspicious network activity and flag problematic numbers. Similarly, suspicious web links are automatically filtered by almost all top web browsers. And when you click on the link, both iPhone and Android have strong defense mechanisms through its Play Protect.

So why do scams still happen? This happens because phone users have limited knowledge, and in some cases are just plain greedy or short-sighted. A carrot or stick – like an unpaid bill – is dangled and they become victims of the scam. Given how fast scammers move, nothing is going to change here partner.

The solution, again, is to use better technologies against spam and scams in the backend. This is the work of telecom companies. And companies like WhatsApp. It is not the user’s job to classify each call as spam, scam or not scam. User reported methods are very slow in any case.

Claim: Know mobile connection in your name

reality: This is a real use case I found with partner. But here too, the solution does not lie in telling people how many phone numbers are in front of their names and IDs. Instead, the solution is to make KYC more robust when issuing SIM cards. If copies of Aadhaar were not so leaked everywhere in India, if telecom companies were doing their job properly, you would not need to check how many numbers are there in your name.

And even if you need this feature, is an all-purpose pre-installed app necessary for this feature? I’m sure anyone needing this functionality can easily access the website to check it out, even through a mobile browser.

Claim: Know the reality of your mobile handset?

reality: For your information, let us tell you that there are almost no “fake” phones in India. There are still many cases but by and large counterfeit phones are not a problem anymore. This is because the Government of India has made it mandatory that the IMEI of all phones entering India and being manufactured here will be registered with the government. This database is then shared with the telecom companies – and if it is not then it should be shared with the telecom companies. This means that whenever a phone connects to a telecom network, its validity is checked. Android and iOS also detect IMEI tampering with their inbuilt mechanisms.

In such a situation, why would you want to check whether your phone is fake or not? The only reason you would want something like this is because your phone is put together using components from different companies. But this is almost impossible to do with modern phones, unless you work for a government spy agency. These are not cars. In phones you cannot immediately use components from different companies and create a new and functional handset. IMEI spoofing remains an issue but it is a highly sophisticated and largely marginal issue. This is also an issue where the companion app does nothing to solve as its database checks can easily be failed.

Claim: Report international calls coming from Indian numbers

reality: But why? Why isn’t the government asking telecom companies to figure this out, which they could easily do if they decided to work a little harder and spend some money on better networking gear? This process occurs due to call spoofing. So, why are telecom companies not catching such frauds happening on their networks? Why should it be the phone user’s job to fix this problem? Are our telecom companies so primitive that they can’t figure out this problem? And again, user reported methods are very slow.

Claim: Know Your Wireline Service Provider

reality: No thanks. I came to know about wireline service providers in my area from the flyers of these companies – from Airtel to Tikona – placed under my doorstep. Or through the countless messages they send me, asking me to take their connection. Is it the job of the government to create an app that gives details of internet service providers in my area? Instead of solving my 99 problems, should the government be doing the same thing, which is perhaps more important and urgent?

Claim: Trusted Contact Details

reality: Really, a directory? And if yes, why was it not established at the telecommunications level so that when a trusted number is called it has a “trusted” tag associated with it?

communication partner is a waste of money

If it is useless, what is the purpose of the communication partner? I can only think of two reasons why this app exists: one sinister, and one devious. The sinister purpose behind the app could be data collection. Once an app is on your phone, it can collect all kinds of information. In itself it may seem harmless but once collected the information can be used in a myriad of ways. Only the entity collecting the information knows how it intends to use it.

But I suspect it is the second reason that better explains the existence of the communication partner. Indian government departments like to reinvent the wheel. They work with all these people and have all this free time and money. The money they get must be justified in some way or the other. Similarly, jobs and contracts and tenders need to be justified. So, every month or any other time they keep cooking something or the other. And when cooking, they mimic what other apps or services are already doing.

In terms of communication companion, the brilliant minds of DoT have copied many features that are already available in phones from companies like Apple and Google. In this they have added some features that Airtel and Jio offer on their networks. And then, for good measure, they’ve copied easily-implemented database searches to create this and that. Now that the app is built, they will again have to justify their expenses and manpower. So, they’ve come up with the next step: take the app to people’s throats and make it an integral part of our digital lives.

But take a step back from all this and you will see that communication partners are nothing but a waste of government time and taxpayers’ money. The government could use those same resources to do something better – like building better and stronger telecom infrastructure that can automatically deal with fraud. But it is difficult to do this. Instead, it takes the easier route. It creates a demonstrative app and then makes a song and dance about it.