It’s been several years since the Indian government has caught my attention by peddling a suspicious phone app, but they haven’t changed.

Via The Register:

India demands smartphone makers install a government app on every handset

…to “fight fraud,” the gov says. And to “protect carrier security,” which looks like it means preventing phone phreaking, which I guess is considered a problem.

The app wants camera permission. The official explanation for that is to help check the phone’s IMEI to see if it’s a knockoff, which I guess is also considered a problem.

The app also wants SMS access and some kind of device-based “registration,” which isn’t surprising from the gov that brought us Aadhaar.

Oh, and everyone’s call logs, too, while they’re at it.

And that’s before its spyware capability gets expanded by future updates, and before (as a Register commenter pointed out) some fumble-thumbed gov techie lets hackers and malefactors pwn and brick millions of people’s phones.

If one wanted to work this into a piece of dystopian fiction, though, the app would need an ominous name. Or, better yet, a really bland name, a name that repels notice before anyone has a chance to think critically about it. A name like, say, “communications partner.”

…fuck. We are living in a cyberpunk dystopia, aren’t we.