Data leak war gets ugly, Cong and BJP hurl insults

New Delhi: The high-decibel war between the Congress and BJP on data leak spiralled on Monday with the two accusing each other of sharing users’ data via their apps while hurling insults.

Twitter was the battleground for the app war as the debate on the prickly issue of data sharing escalated on a day when Congress president Rahul Gandhi dubbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi the “Big Boss who likes to spy on Indians”, while Union minister Smriti Irani, taking a dig at the Congress chief, said, “Even Chhota Bheem (an Indian animation character) knows that commonly asked permission on Apps does not tantamount to snooping.”

Amid the war of words, the Congress took down its app (a short form for software application) from Google’s play store, a digital distribution service, allegedly after a nudge from Baptiste Robert (@ Elliot Alderson), a  French security researcher, tweeted, “The IP address of http://membership.inc.in is 52.77.237.47. This server is located in Singapore. As you are an #Indian political party, having your server in #India is probably a good idea,”

The Congress chief had earlier targeted the BJP over the official mobile app of Mr Modi claiming that NaMo app’s data is shared with third party companies.

In a tweet, Mr Gandhi said, “Modi’s NaMo app secretly records audio, video, contacts of your friends and family and even tracks your location via GPS. He’s the Big Boss who likes to spy on Indians. If as PM he wants to use tech to communicate with India, no problem. But use the official PMO APP for it.  This data belongs to India, not Modi.”

Information and broadcasting minister Smriti Irani led the BJP’s counter attack on the Congress.

“Now that we’re talking tech, would you care to answer @RahulGandhiji why Congress sends data to Singapore Servers which can be accessed by any Tom, Dick and Analytica?” asked Ms Irani.

The BJP said that Mr Gandhi was rattled as his plan to influence the next Lok Sabha election with the help of disgraced UK-based data mining firm Cambridge Analytica was “exposed”.

BJP spokesman Sambit Patra alleged that it was the Congress app that was “stealing” people’s data and as soon as the BJP exposed, it the Opposition party took it down from Google’s play store, making it “Congress-mukt”.

“Rahul Gandhi is technologically illiterate. He does not know that data analysis is not equivalent to spying. This new age is the age of information which Rahulji will not understand,” said Mr Patra.

Taking a dig at the Congress chief, he said Mr Gandhi would tweet tomorrow that Mr Modi and BJP are connected to electronic voting machines through the NaMo App and they have been winning election after election because they have hacked it.

The Congress questioned how safe people’s money and their personal information were under the BJP-led government in the wake of a string of bank frauds and allegations related to data theft.

Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, “It is an attempt like Bigg Boss of spying on Indians. Modiji is attacking the privacy. It is a data leak government.”

He said that when there is an official government app that seeks information on 15 points, what is the need for having a personal NaMo Aap which seeks data on 22 indicators. The two parties’ social media experts also crossed their swords.

Amit Malviya, BJP’s IT cell in-charge, attacked the Congress for taking down its app after the controvery.

He said, “When Congress says they will share your data with like-minded groups, the implications are grave. From Maoists, stone pelters, Bharat Ke Tukde Gang, Chinese embassy to globally ‘renowned’ orgs like Cambridge Analytica, the field is extensive and wide open.”

Divya Spandana Ramya, Congress social media chief responded by saying, “Forget sharing, we don’t collect any data through the app. What a dimwit … We don’t have any other membership site. Nothing is compromised...We haven’t taken down anything.

“WithINC” is only a membership app and had not been in use for over five months since the party moved membership to www.inc.in from November 16, 2017, said the Congress Twitter handle.