Three domestic mobile messaging applications, two developed by the government and one by the army, are likely to be pitched to the Prime Minister Office (PMO) as an alternative to the popular messaging application, WhatsApp, as privacy concerns shroud its latest privacy policy update, officials familiar with the matter said.
The three mobile applications include Secure Application for Internet (SAI), developed by the army and launched in October last year; Sandes, developed by the National Informatics Centre with the first version being released in August last year, and SAMVAD, developed by the Centre for Development of Telematics.
While all three applications have been around for at least a year, an official familiar with the matter said that the Prime Minister may put his weight behind one of the applications after the presentations are completed. “All the three applications will co-exist,” the official said. “After presentations are done, PMO will decide the future course, which may involve PM pitching for one for secure messaging.”
The push for domestic apps comes at a time when WhatsApp is in the crosshairs of the government over its privacy policy update. Critics have said it would allow WhatsApp to share more data with its parent company, Facebook, without giving users the opportunity to opt-out of it.
The ministry of electronics and information technology on January 19 wrote to WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart expressing “strong concerns” over the policy and asked the company to roll it back. Last week, the Supreme Court also issued a notice to WhatsApp, asking it to explain its plans, with a remark that Indians highly value their privacy.Homegrown apps have an advantage over companies such as WhatsApp as the data is stored locally in servers, which is considered more secure. An army official familiar with the matter said that the SAI mobile application was almost out of the trial stage and would eventually be opened up to other government departments. At present, the mobile application has 18,000 users .
The ministry of electronics and information technology on January 19 wrote to WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart expressing “strong concerns” over the policy and asked the company to roll it back. Last week, the Supreme Court also issued a notice to WhatsApp, asking it to explain its plans, with a remark that Indians highly value their privacy.Homegrown apps have an advantage over companies such as WhatsApp as the data is stored locally in servers, which is considered more secure. An army official familiar with the matter said that the SAI mobile application was almost out of the trial stage and would eventually be opened up to other government departments. At present, the mobile application has 18,000 users .
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