foams

rcfa said:

Anyone cares to describe what exactly that app does, and why it needs user data?

The app allows phone users to report phone numbers that send spam messages/calls. Beyond all the needless rhetoric (from the TRAI chairman) about ownership of user data, the issue is simply whether any 3rd party app should be able to access user data (in this case call logs) even if it is meant to protect the user and is with the user's permission.

I applaud Apple for taking a hard line here and refusing to open Pandora's box as an innocuous request may eventually lead to more serious demands restricting user privacy (like the FBI's demand for a backdoor to the iPhone).

At the same time, anyone that has used a phone in India would realize (as I did) how acute the spam problem is. I received enough spam messages to bury my real text messages and it was quite a task to continuously delete the spam. It is creditable that the Indian govt is trying to address the issue, at least. For the unaware, the TRAI has, to its credit, stood firmly on the side of users & privacy in the past and blocked FaceBook's internet.org project in India in the interest of net neutrality.

Maybe Apple could build its own app replicating the functionality of the govt's app and eliminate the need to provide the govt access to user data? Might be a win-win, even if it involves extra effort for Apple.