this post was submitted on 30 Nov 2025
75 points (98.7% liked)

Technology

77235 readers
4252 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
L3s@lemmy.world
enu@lemmy.world
technopagan@lemmy.world
L4s@lemmy.world
L3s@hackingne.ws
L4s@hackingne.ws
75
SIM binding in India: What it means for WhatsApp, Telegram users and why the government wants it (www.moneycontrol.com)
submitted 3 days ago by sonofearth@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
10 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

The Department of Telecommunications has told these apps that within the next 90 days, they must make sure their services work only when the correct SIM card is in the phone. If you remove that SIM, the app should stop working. This is known as SIM binding.

  • Continuous SIM presence: Apps must check regularly whether the original SIM card is still inserted in your phone. If not, the app must automatically stop working until you insert the correct SIM again.
  • Web access restrictions: If you use WhatsApp Web or similar web versions, the government wants you to get logged out automatically every six hours. To log in again, you will have to scan a QR code with the app. This is to ensure the device and user are genuine.

People who use these apps on secondary devices without a SIM, or those who keep their SIM in one phone but use the app on another, may face interruptions

I don't even see the point of this:

  • Surveillance?
  • Some Incoming telecom plan change which will require you to have a special plan for using Messengers because no one uses SMS and don't bother to have an SMS plan? so telecom networks can make some more money?
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] deathbird@mander.xyz 27 points 3 days ago

Surveillance, yes. By forcing you to maintain control of a physical token they can more easily associate you with the account.