The Department of Telecommunications has told these apps that within the next 90 days, they must make sure their services work only when the correct SIM card is in the phone. If you remove that SIM, the app should stop working. This is known as SIM binding.
- Continuous SIM presence: Apps must check regularly whether the original SIM card is still inserted in your phone. If not, the app must automatically stop working until you insert the correct SIM again.
- Web access restrictions: If you use WhatsApp Web or similar web versions, the government wants you to get logged out automatically every six hours. To log in again, you will have to scan a QR code with the app. This is to ensure the device and user are genuine.
People who use these apps on secondary devices without a SIM, or those who keep their SIM in one phone but use the app on another, may face interruptions
I don’t even see the point of this:
- Surveillance?
- Some Incoming telecom plan change which will require you to have a special plan for using Messengers because no one uses SMS and don’t bother to have an SMS plan? so telecom networks can make some more money?
I think it’s mandating (a half-assed kind of) MFA. If someone steals your credentials, logs into your WhatsApp account, and tries to scam your family and friends, they can only get away with it for so long before WhatsApp checks for your SIM card and logs the scammer out.
It could have some surveillance and law enforcement value, as well, but if the Indian government is instructing the apps to implement this function presumably it won’t make it any harder or easier for the government to surveil you than the app already makes it. Though I can see how it might make it harder for people to claim in court “somebody hacked my account and used it to buy drugs, you can’t prove that was me” or whatever.
Maybe against spam?
I doubt because to get a phone number in India you already need to provide and verify your government id and biometrics. Without it even the vendor can’t hit next button to allocate the phone number.