SUMMARY
“There's an instinct in any platform to deny that vulnerability exists," Chandrasekhar added
Previously after the incident, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) even issued a notice to tech giant Apple
"They have given several clarifications, including on the same day that this has nothing to do with the state actor. But we pressed them further that if it has nothing to do with the state actor, then what is this notification?”
Nearly five months after the Indian government issued a show cause notice to Apple after several opposition leaders complained of iPhone alert sent to them over alleged hacking of their devices, the Centre on Monday (February 19) said it is still waiting for a clear response from the tech giant.
In an interview to PTI, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the government has asked Apple two questions: whether their devices are safe, and if so the reason for the alert was sent to opposition members.
“In my humble opinion, this is not something that any proprietary platform will completely concede whether they have vulnerabilities in their platform. There’s an instinct in any platform to deny that vulnerability exists,” he said.
“We are asking a clear question, is your phone vulnerable? The answer to that is not unambiguous,” Chandrasekhar said.
In October last year, several opposition leaders claimed they had received an alert from Apple warning them of state-sponsored attackers trying to remotely compromise” their iPhones and alleged hacking by the government.
Opposition leaders, including Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress’ Shashi Tharoor, Shiv Sena’s (UBT faction) Priyanka Chaturvedi, AAP’s Raghav Chadha, Sitaram Yechury of Communist Party of India (Marxist), Trinamool Congress’ Mahua Moitra, a and Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav, AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi and some aides of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi received the alert from the US-based company. They accused the Centre of snooping on them.
“Allegations when they were made, on that particular day we said very clearly this is for Apple to answer because it involves their device. We certainly have no R&D (research and development) capability in the government to understand what is in the iOS and what is not, and certainly, Apple is not going to tell us its proprietary technology. So we called them,” Chandrasekhar said.
He said that CERT-In has made them party to the investigation.
“They have given several clarifications, including on the same day that this has nothing to do with the state actor. But we pressed them further that if it has nothing to do with the state actor, then what is this notification? They have given us some clarification. They continue to… but CERT is continuing their investigation,” the minister told PTI.
It is also pertinent to note that reportedly the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology (IT) also planned to summon Apple representatives to address the threat alerts sent by the company to Indian political leaders.
Chandrasekhar rejected the allegations and emphasised that these allegations of government transgressing privacy or curtailing free speech are mostly politically driven.
It must also be noted that Apple has already faced an antitrust probe in the country for alleged dominance in the app marketplace space. In addition, the tech major has also invited the ire of Indian authorities, on multiple occasions, for failure to comply with takedown orders.
Responding to the PIB Fact Check unit controversy which flags misinformation or false information about the government, Chandrasekhar said the fact check unit is not any form of censorship but rather a tool to help platforms that are dealing with disputed government information.
“When the fact check unit says this is right or this is wrong, all platforms have to do is label it. Now there is nothing in that, that is censorship. But some people have characterised that, specifically editors guild, etc, who are looking for a cause to hang their hat on,” Chandrasekhar said.
