Decision to open-source Aarogya Setu app will help improve user trust, security: Mozilla
May 27, 2020
New Delhi [India], May 27 : Mozilla on Wednesday welcomed the government's decision to open-source the Aarogya Setu app, which the company's Public Policy Advisor said will help improve user trust and security.
"Mozilla welcomes the decision to open-source the Aarogya Setu app. While the move will go a long way in improving user trust and security, some significant steps remain before the app's infrastructure can be called truly open source," said Mozilla Public Policy Advisor Udbhav Tiwari.
"This includes open sourcing the server-side code and ensuring that the app is built exclusively from its public repository," he added.
On Tuesday, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant had announced that the Aarogya Setu app has been declared as an open-source.
"The Aarogya Setu App is now open-source. Transparency, privacy, and security have been the core design principles of the app since its inception, and opening its source code to the developer company signifies the government of India's continuing commitment to these principles," said Kant while addressing the media.
Talking about the new development, Mozilla Public Policy Advisor also said that "Indians are still awaiting a comprehensive data protection law which would better protect them from the inherent privacy risks of exposure notification technology."
The app launched in April in public-private partnership enables people to themselves assess the risk for their catching the coronavirus infection. The app makes its calculation based on a person's interaction with others, using Bluetooth technology, algorithms, and artificial intelligence.
Mozilla is the not-for-profit behind the open-source web browser, Firefox.
