A few days back a section of a podcast went viral. The subject of discussion was MoU signed between Indian Air Force and Uber towards mobility solutions for Air Force personnel and their families. The so-called experts were mocking not only the concept / arrangement made by the organization, but also deriding the people behind the concept as also the leadership of the Air Force. The excuse – Security concerns on using a mobile app from a US Company storing data outside India.
Which world are thses guys living in? Do they think that the Indian Armed Forces do not allow their personnel to use commercially available smart phones, or that the Armed Forces personnel and their families do not use Uber otherwise, or that these men and their families do not use any apps on their phones, or that they use only Indian made apps storing data only on servers within India, or that Armed Forces personnel and their families do not use any apps from Alphabet, Meta or Amazon, or that these companies cannot or do not track the movements/actions of their users, or that any of these companies will profile the user data only if the parent organization has a formal MoU with the said company or that the Indian Armed Forces have the budget to provide a Government Vehicle to all the personnel or that the intelligence of the other countries is so weak that they do not know the locations of the bases of Indian Armed Forces, which is crazy since we actually have railway stations named after cantonments, for God’s sake or, finally, that the senior leadership has not carried out the due diligence before giving the go ahead.
Given a data set of mobile usage, any amateur data analyst can figure out the workplace of any person. If you use Google maps, it actually asks the user to set the location as workplace or home when it sees you are travelling back and forth to same locations during mornings and evenings. So, there it is, if one is travelling to sena bhavan even in his own vehicle, Maps and so many other apps already know that you are working in the Armed Forces and that too in the Headquarters. You don’t have to be using the Uber app or even registering with them for Uber and the other apps to start profiling you. And even if you are using a service vehicle but carrying a smart phone, you are still being tracked. So, what are we trying to achieve by denying a welfare scheme to the Armed Forces personnel.
Few lessons to be learnt here.
First, an expertise on one subject does not make one an expert on all subjects. Just because someone is a good orator and specializes in one subject should not and does not give them the right or authority to opine on any other subject under the garb of free speech. The people on the podcast, besides indulging in fearmongering, damaged their own reputation as well as their own following, by speaking on a subject clearly out of their grasp. None of the panelists in the said podcast are qualified in cyber security, mobile telephony, defence matters or mobility solutions. Still they yap!!
Second, one should not shun development, technology or even an idea just because there is a risk, but we should take measures to mitigate the risk and protect ourselves from misuse, abuse or even sabotage. Pathankot, Uri, Pulwama did not happen because of Armed Forces personnel travelling in taxis.
Lastly, it is a common issue in the civilian/corporate world, they get in an expert to solve their problem and then start telling the expert how to solve the problem. Likewise, here, people who have entrusted their own security to the Armed Forces, are now questioning the capability of the Armed Forces to look after the security of the Armed forces personnel. If these people are so concerned about security of the armed forces, they probably should canvass against any commercial activity, buildings, hotels in the vicinity of the Naval docks, Army cantonments and Air Force bases. For example, stop civilian/foreigner movements around Gateway of India, shut down Taj Palace hotel, Mazagaon docks, etc., the list is endless.
PS: Microsoft Word just auto corrected the spelling of Mazagon, above. Is it now a national security threat, Should I stop using MS Word?
