Thread by @nixxin, MEITY, NIC & NeGD, in response to @OfficialSauravD RTI say they have [...]

MEITY, NIC & NeGD, in response to @OfficialSauravD RTI say they have no info on who created Aarogya Setu.
In this thread, I& #39;ll connect some dots:
1.Much of this info is in public domain. Then why no official documents? To protect those who built it? Or
(1/n) https://twitter.com/LiveLawIndia/status/1321344902471450624">https://twitter.com/LiveLawIn...

https://twitter.com/LiveLawIndia/status/1321344902471450624

to protect bureaucrats who authorised the building of this app by third party volunteers, possibly, without requisite paperwork? List of Aarogya Setu volunteers had been published on Github btw https://www.medianama.com/2020/05/223-aarogya-setu-contributors/
(2/n)">https://www.medianama.com/2020/05/2...

Who made Aarogya Setu? A list

Aarogya Setu’s developers have made the entire list of contributors public on GitHub, along with source code of the Android version of the app. It includes government and industry/academia “leaders…

https://www.medianama.com/2020/05/223-aarogya-setu-contributors/

2. Volunteers in govt tech: in Aadhaar, some of Nandan Nilekani& #39;s team were "volunteers", but via an official process. So much of tech+policy development done by (Nandan linked) iSpirt "volunteers" is officially (govt) undocumented or invisible.
3. Volunteers have a unique+
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position of responsibility+dependency, no accountability. Does the govt they have documentation on process of involvement of who all worked on Aarogya Setu? Where they vetted for such a role?
4. I& #39;m not saying that volunteers
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behind Aarogya Setu had bad intentions. I& #39;m saying they had no official accountability. PPP should have contracts.

5. Just this Wednesday, @DeepKalraMMT one of India& #39;s finest tech entrepreneurs, said that 30 of his team worked on Aarogya Setu:
https://www.medianama.com/2020/10/223-deep-kalra-competition-monopoly/
(5/n)">https://www.medianama.com/2020/10/2...

He even said there was competition for building Aarogya Setu, and they won. AND, they took it to 130M downloads and handed it to the government.
https://www.medianama.com/2020/10/223-deep-kalra-competition-monopoly/
He">https://www.medianama.com/2020/10/2... said it on MMT& #39;s June earnings call too. https://www.medianama.com/2020/06/223-makemytrip-aarogya-setu/
(6/n)">https://www.medianama.com/2020/06/2...

In fact, MakeMyTrip had denied any official involvement in April. Why? What was there to hide then?
https://www.medianama.com/2020/04/223-aarogya-setu-coronavirus-contact-tracing-app-launched/
MMT">https://www.medianama.com/2020/04/2... execs had claimed that they were volunteering in their personal capacity, later in April.
https://www.medianama.com/2020/04/223-aarogya-setu-upcoming-features/
(7/n)">https://www.medianama.com/2020/04/2...

Aarogya Setu will include telemedicine, greater personalisation; may act as building block for...

Aarogya Setu will soon integrate telemedicine video consultations and “greater personalisation in terms of better data collection” in its interface, Arnab Kumar, the Program Director of…

https://www.medianama.com/2020/04/223-aarogya-setu-coronavirus-contact-tracing-app-launched/

6. 1mg is another company whose involvement was highlighted by Deep Kalra. When Aarogya Setu was launched, Tanmay Saksena, COO of 1mg had confirmed the involvement of the co to @medianama, only for founder Prashant Tandon to retract.
(8/n) https://www.medianama.com/2020/04/223-aarogya-setu-coronavirus-contact-tracing-app-launched/">https://www.medianama.com/2020/04/2...

7. Lalitesh Katragadda is credited as Principal Architect of Aarogya Setu. See this quote. Ajay Sawhney, Secretary MEITY says they called him in, and they already had a team in place for Aarogya Setu. What team? How does MEITY not know when he did?
(9/n) https://www.business-standard.com/article/technology/meet-architects-of-aarogya-setu-the-app-meant-to-stem-covid-19-spread-120051500077_1.html">https://www.business-standard.com/article/t...

8. Arnab Kumar, Program Director of Frontier Technologies at NITI Aayog, spoke to @medianama about the importance of Aarogya Setu for the rollout of the National Health Stack/India Health Stack. Who is rolling out the health stack? Read on.
(10/n)
https://www.medianama.com/2020/04/223-aarogya-setu-upcoming-features/">https://www.medianama.com/2020/04/2...

9. Health Stack is being rolled out by (Nilekani linked) iSpirt. Lalitesh Katragadda = iSpirt fellow. May 23rd: On a health stack webinar, iSpirt& #39;s Sharma called him a "core volunteer" & said that Aarogya Setu is part of Health Stack".
(11/n)
https://www.medianama.com/2020/06/223-ispirt-health-stack-consent-manager-demo/">https://www.medianama.com/2020/06/2...

10. Remember Aarogya Setu Mitr, the private services launched on Aarogya Setu? That was by Swasth Alliance. Two reads:
1. https://www.medianama.com/2020/05/223-aarogya-setu-telemedicine-lab-tests-medicine-delivery/
2.">https://www.medianama.com/2020/05/2... https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-news-technology/post-soft-launch-on-aarogya-setu-swasth-alliance-to-release-app-for-public-this-week-6471446/
Who">https://indianexpress.com/article/t... was on Swasth Alliance?Co& #39;s whose employees worked on Aarogya Setu.And Prashant Tandon & iSpirt.
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11. Swasth Alliance& #39;s advisory council had "Amitabh Kant (CEO, NITI Aayog), Indu Bhushan (CEO, Ayushman Bharat and National Health Authority), & Nandan Nilekani. Among partners: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Bill Gates praised Aarogya Setu.
(13/n) https://tech.hindustantimes.com/tech/news/bill-gates-lauds-india-s-covid-19-tracker-aarogya-setu-here-s-how-you-use-the-app-story-3CC54mLz4x0RAzDxPTjMzI.html">https://tech.hindustantimes.com/tech/news...

Bill Gates lauds Aarogya Setu: How to download and use the app

In a letter to the Indian Prime Minister, Bill Gates praised Narendra Modi’s leadership and the proactive measure the country has put in place to deal with the pandemic

https://tech.hindustantimes.com/tech/news/bill-gates-lauds-india-s-covid-19-tracker-aarogya-setu-here-s-how-you-use-the-app-story-3CC54mLz4x0RAzDxPTjMzI.html

12. From July 23rd: Govt Post COVID plans in a PPP model to include Swasth Alliance.
(14/n) https://m.timesofindia.com/india/covid-govt-ready-with-tech-driven-plan-for-7-key-areas/articleshow/77117299.cms">https://m.timesofindia.com/india/cov...

Covid: Govt ready with tech-driven plan for 7 key areas | India News - Times of India

India News: The government has identified seven key areas for technology-driven transformation in the post-Covid world and is developing solutions on a public-pri

https://m.timesofindia.com/india/covid-govt-ready-with-tech-driven-plan-for-7-key-areas/articleshow/77117299.cms

13. Swasth Alliance is, of course, working closely with iSpirt
(15/n)
https://www.medianama.com/2020/07/223-health-stack-swasth-alliance-livehealth-ispirt/">https://www.medianama.com/2020/07/2...

14. So what& #39;s the point? Zooming out: Private co execs volunteer for unproven govt app which collects sensitive health data. Govt pushes+gets 130+ Mn downloads. Some volunteers are from Nilekani-linked think tank that is privately building health data infra.
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Govt execs say app will link to health infra.Some volunteers become part of a private alliance to build private services on the app, which has govt exec on advisory board, & Nilekani-linked think tank as partner.
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Govt likely to adopt health infra created by Nilekani linked think tank & says will work with Alliance in PPP model. Remember there is a health ID being pushed by the PM too.

Maybe it& #39;s all opportunism. Maybe by design.

QUESTION: Where& #39;s the paperwork?

(18/n)

All this info is in the public domain. Great, dogged and persistent work on Aarogya Setu by @Aditi_muses . Detailed reporting on Health Stack by @trishajalan

19/19

15. Update: Only two redeeming aspects of Aarogya Setup were: a good privacy policy & a half-decent data sharing protocol.

It appears from another RTI by @OfficialSauravD that it hasn& #39;t been implemented.
(20/n) https://www.thequint.com/news/india/exclusive-govt-fails-to-implement-its-own-data-protection-safeguards-under-aarogya-setu-protocol">https://www.thequint.com/news/indi...

EXCLUSIVE | Govt Ignores Its Own Vital Safeguards on Aarogya Setu

RTI responses by NIC reveal there is no list of data recipients, no audit and no anonymisation of data taking place.

https://www.thequint.com/news/india/exclusive-govt-fails-to-implement-its-own-data-protection-safeguards-under-aarogya-setu-protocol

16. As per the RTI response:
a. Govt hasn& #39;t documented which entities data has been shared with
b. No security practices have been enforced for those who have received the data.
c. No anonymisation protocol has been developed
d. There is no audit or review mechanism for
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17. Based on these revelations, it is very clear that we cannot trust the government of India to follow its own data sharing protocols.

I strongly that everyone who has downloaded it should UNINSTALL AAROGYA SETU.

You need to treat it like a surveillance application.

18. Note that @SFLCin and @anivar have filed an important case against Aarogya Setu in challenging its mandatory usage. The Karnataka HC has said that without law, govt cannot deny services for not installing Aarogya Setu.

This is the new Aadhaar.
(23/n) https://www.medianama.com/2020/10/223-govt-cannot-deny-services-aarogya-setu-karnataka-hc/">https://www.medianama.com/2020/10/2...

Sans law, govt can't deny services for not installing Aarogya Setu: Karnataka HC

In the absence of a law, government agencies cannot deny any benefit to citizens if they don’t install Aarogya Setu, Karnataka HC ordered.

https://www.medianama.com/2020/10/223-govt-cannot-deny-services-aarogya-setu-karnataka-hc/

19. Aarogya Setu has been brought in & forced upon citizens without a law - even a temporary law like Singapore has - which seems to be in violation of the Right to Privacy judgment. I would urge @SFLCin and also @internetfreedom to challenge Aarogya Setu on these grounds.

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