Government drops preinstall Aadhaar app plan for new smartphones
India
The government has dropped its plan to force all new smartphones to come with the Aadhaar app preinstalled.
After pushback from big phone makers such as Apple and Samsung, who raised concerns about device security and extra production costs, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) announced the proposal is off the table.
Privacy advocates hail user choice win
Privacy advocates are calling this a win for user choice, especially given past worries about Aadhaar's data security.
This is actually the sixth similar proposal in two years, and this one has now been dropped, showing a growing trend toward giving users more control over what is on their devices.