SFLC.IN’s letter to MeitY regarding fully open sourcing Aarogya Setu
The Aarogya Setu’s Android source code was open sourced and made available on GitHub Repository with much fan-fare on 26thMay, 2020 to be in line with India’s policy on Open Source Software.
However, only the source code of the client side of Android and iOS version has been made available. The server side code is yet to be made available despite the release of Aarogya Setu’s Android source code two months back. The Press Information Bureau’s Press Release dated 26.05.2020 had also stated that the iOS source code of Aarogya Setu will be released within the next two weeks and subsequently, the server code will be released as well. However, Android and iOS source codes are not fully open source yet, and source code of KaiOS app has not been released even after almost three months of open sourcing of Android client side source code.
SFLC.IN wrote to Hon’ble Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad urging him to fully open source Aarogya Setu and to be in compliance with the princuple of transparency, privacy and security as well as the Open Source Software Policy of the Government of India.
Read the letter below:
August 13th, 2020
To
Sh Ravi Shankar Prasad
Hon’ble Minister
Ministry of Electronics & IT
Electronics Niketan,
6, CGO Complex,
Lodhi Road,
New Delhi-03
Via Electronic Mail
Respected Mr. Prasad,
Subject: Regarding fully open sourcing Aarogya Setu’s Android and iOS source code, and releasing KaiOS version.
Greetings from SFLC.IN!
We write this letter to you commending the decision of the Government to open source Aarogya Setu. The Aarogya Setu’s Android source code was open sourced and made available on GitHub Repository with much fan-fare on 26thMay, 2020 to be in line with India’s policy on Open Source Software.
However, only the source code of the client side of Android and iOS version has been made available. The server side code is yet to be made available despite the release of Aarogya Setu’s Android source code two months back. The Press Information Bureau’s Press Release dated 26.05.2020 had also stated that the iOS source code of Aarogya Setu will be released within the next two weeks and subsequently, the server code will be released as well. However, the server side of Android source code and iOS, and source code of KaiOS app have not been released even after almost three months of open sourcing of Android source code. It is to bring to your notice that open sourcing a software involves releasing the client-side source code as well as the server side code. The server code not being released by the government means the current form of open sourcing does not give clarity on how the tracking of data is controlled.
In addition to this, the Aarogya Setu’s current Android source code available on GitHub does not correspond with the version available on Google Play Store. The new releases have not been pushed out from the GitHub repository.
Through this letter, we urge you to fully open source Aarogya Setu by releasing the complete and corresponding source code of the Android, iOS and KaiOS versions along with the server side code and to ensure that the releases are pushed from the GitHub repository, to be fully compliant with the principles of transparency, privacy and security and the Open Source Software policy of the Government of India.
Thanking You!
Sincerely,
Prasanth Sugathan
Legal Director,
SFLC.IN
prasanth@sflc.in
