Who is responsible for the data leaks? BJP or Congress?

From Facebook to Cambridge Analytica, to the political parties’ apps that the users use, the personal data of the users are not safe and are at the hands of 3 parties.

But who is responsible for this? The BJP or the Congress?

It is clear that the 2019 general election will be fought in the social media. Within two days of a French cyber expert claiming that Narendra Modi’s app was releasing user information to a third-party domain(s) without their consent, Rahul Gandhi jumped onto the bandwagon, dragging the PM’s name into the unsavory controversy.

CONGRESS ACCUSES BJP

Baring his intent to ‘name and shame’, the Congress president in a tweet said, “Hi! My name is Narendra Modi. I am India’s Prime Minister. When you sign up for my official App, I give all your data to my friends in American companies.” Rahul also accused the mainstream media of “burying this critical story, as always”.

In the tweet, he also attached a news story titled, Data theft allegations reach PM Modi’s doorstep, French vigilante hacker’s stunning revelation”.

The PMO wasted no time in responding: It released a statement, mocking the Congress and its chief for ‘having zero knowledge of technology’. The statement also gives details of the NaMo app and says:

READ ALSO: This is what UIDAI says about ‘data leak’ and aadhaar database

‘‘Narendra Modi App is a unique App, which unlike most Apps, gives access to users in the guest mode without even any permission or data. The permissions required are all contextual and case-specific. For example, a selfie campaign requires access to the camera and/or photo gallery. Contact access is required to connect with friends or fellow party workers on the New India connect module. If a person has entered his email address and date of birth, he receives a personalized birthday greeting from the PM. Each function asks for the specific permission when access is required. The app does not ask for blanket permissions when the app is started.

The BJP said “the contrary to Rahul’s lies, the fact is that data is being used for only analytics using third-party service, similar to Google Analytics. Analytics on the user data is done for offering users the most contextual content.”

“Rahul Gandhi is no match for Narendra Modi. But seeing his fright about the Namo App is very amusing. When his bots tried to trend #DeleteNamoApp day before yesterday, the popularity and downloads of Namo App only increased,” it said.

According to media reports, a French hacker who identifies himself as Elliot Alderson has been tweeting about the loopholes in the security system of the app, and how it is allegedly sending user information, like name, contact address, interests, photo etc. to third-party domains.

Responding to Rahul’s charge, Union Minister of Technology K J Alphons said, “You think Prime Minister is going to give your data to a private company! Don’t believe such fake stories. Let me assure you that it has not been breached, it’s absolutely secure. We have given authorization to government agencies to access Aadhaar information,” the minister said.