India plans to introduce a number of security measures that would require smartphone manufacturers to share source code with the government and make multiple software modifications, a move that has triggered private opposition from technology giants such as Apple and Samsung. According to four people familiar with the matter and a review of confidential government and industry documents, the measures include 83 security standards, which also require companies to report to the government when pushing major software updates.
These technology companies countered that this set of security standards has no precedent globally and risks leaking corporate proprietary information.
India is the world's second largest smartphone market, with nearly 750 million mobile phone terminals. In recent years, Internet fraud and data leaks have occurred frequently in the country. Indian Prime Minister Modi has promoted the above-mentioned plan to improve user data security.
Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, India S. "The government will address the legitimate concerns raised by the industry with an open mind," Krishnan said, adding that "it is too early to read too much into this." A spokesman for the ministry said that as the government is negotiating with technology companies on relevant proposals, it is temporarily inconvenient to comment further.