this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2025

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145

Permission requirements of BJP's mandatory spyware in India (hexbear.net)

submitted 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) by jackmaoist@hexbear.net to c/technology@hexbear.net

29 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Not only can it have 24x7 camera access, it can read your texts and call logs.

And with it coming pre-installed on android phones, it may even have root permissions which means that it can do anything on the device.

Note the ability to read and modify storage. This is entirely so the government can plant anything on your phone and arrest you later. Perfect solution to curb any political dissent since most courts in India are controlled by the RSS now and you won't even get a trial for years.

They have made it "deletable" officially but if it has root access then it won't go away. It still comes pre-installed and the tech illiterate population won't do shit against this.

top 29 comments

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[–] lil_tank@hexbear.net 49 points 4 days ago (2 children)

India being the dystopia libs think China is

[–] Lussy@hexbear.net 25 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Everyone including libs think India is a shithole where people defecate on the streets and bathe in shit. That’s worse than being thought of as a surveillance state.

Racism against China is pretty minor relatively speaking

[–] BeanisBrain@hexbear.net 16 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Remembering how "designated shitting streets" became gospel truth among a large section of Reddit despite literally being based solely on an anonymous 4chan post.

[–] VILenin@hexbear.net 16 points 4 days ago (1 children)

All of reddit’s gospel truth comes from hearing it from u/1488OmegaHitler

[–] OffSeasonPrincess@hexbear.net 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

OmegaHitler is badly in heat and can barely function at all, can a strong alpha relieve him before he shoots himself in frustration?

[–] alexei_1917@hexbear.net 4 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I think I've seen this with alpha Stalin on AO3... more than once... libs who just think of Stalin as a bloodthirsty auth-center dictator sure do love that ship. Ugh.

[–] Lussy@hexbear.net 11 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Honestly surreal how Pewdiepie had like over a billion views for the street shitting song and nobody found it fucked up

[–] VILenin@hexbear.net 2 points 4 days ago

My then-middle school teacher buddy can attest to the casual pewdiepie racism pandemic of circa 2018-2019

[–] godlessworm@hexbear.net 6 points 4 days ago

libs think the worst thing about india is there are too many indian people there

[–] FuckyWucky@hexbear.net 32 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

i don't think even system apps have root access on android. but they have access to more permissions. but yea, sus af.

[–] jackmaoist@hexbear.net 31 points 4 days ago

Android market is huge in India. Manufacturers will bend over backwards to sell in India right now. BJP has already used Pegasus to attack journalists and opposition members, this is them attacking the entire population.

[–] Awoo@hexbear.net 30 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Why tf do they want flashlight access lmao

[–] mendiCAN@hexbear.net 36 points 4 days ago

strobe light to find hiding journos

[–] Keld@hexbear.net 8 points 4 days ago

I think it's an "Access? Yes" situation.

[–] aanes_appreciator@hexbear.net 21 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It's kinda funny that the state sanctioned spyware is just politely documenting itself in the Android app manifest. I'm sure if they asked Google nicely they'd be allowed to bypass that shit entirely.

Also, Android's success has been in part due to the prevalence of budget-friendly options, such as those promoted under the the android one program: https://www.android.com/one/ ... what's gonna be the deal when these devices start chugging and burning up coz theyre processing gigabytes of sensor data?

[–] jackmaoist@hexbear.net 12 points 4 days ago

The BJP is mostly incompetent except for when they have the opportunity to fuck Indians over. I doubt that they would ask Google to install Spyware on the OS end with the shit going on between Trump and Modi.

Their tech incompetency makes this situation worse because I am 100% sure that their backdoor already has multiple backdoors which will allow anyone to steal data from anyone else's phone or just hold your phone hostage.

[–] Korkki@lemmy.ml 18 points 4 days ago (1 children)

What even is this app?

[–] jackmaoist@hexbear.net 19 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Government Spyware that's mandatory on all mobile devices in India as of yesterday.

[–] TheSovietOnion@hexbear.net 14 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It'd be great if you did a post on the news mega explaining this app and the reaction to it

[–] jackmaoist@hexbear.net 13 points 4 days ago

Ok. Give me some time though

[–] Korkki@lemmy.ml 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

You mean it's just for spying, or does it serve some function for the user, but also acts as an backdoor?

[–] jackmaoist@hexbear.net 4 points 4 days ago

It's Spyware.

The app basically replicates the capability of Apple Find My. It also lets users check if they have any other phone numbers attached to their identity. Nothing major.

It doesn't need background Camera permissions, the ability to read your texts and the ability to read/write on your file system. The latter is very problematic because dissent is basically illegal in India right now.

[–] ygr444@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 4 days ago (1 children)

...and....people will certainly figure out a way around it as always...I hope (:

[–] jack@hexbear.net 6 points 4 days ago

Sure, but raising the bar for privacy means that most people will not bother to find a workaround. Your repression doesn't need to perfect, it just needs to bigger and better than what you had before.

[–] Damarcusart@hexbear.net 8 points 4 days ago

I know it's cliche, but imagine if one of America's designated Bad Guy Countries did this. The news media would never shut up about evil authoritarian China, even more than they already don't.

[–] sewer_rat_420@hexbear.net 6 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I would suggest a flip phone or brick type phone, but does India do a lot of app-based payment? I know that going without a smartphone in a place like China where everything in the cities is Wechat or Alipay would be impossible.

[–] jackmaoist@hexbear.net 3 points 4 days ago

Digital Payments are popular but not Wechat popular. So you can manage with cash.

But you need whatsapp for all communication nowadays so a rooted android or iPhone seems to be the only option now.

[–] mar_k@hexbear.net 4 points 4 days ago

"Biggest democracy in the world" my ass

[–] Octagon9561@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 days ago

This is exactly why GrapheneOS needs to become more popular