Introduction
A month ago, when the Central government decided to take down 59 Chinese applications, it looked like a strong digital, economic and political move; but the availability of some of the banned applications through various APK platforms, websites and lite versions has roused question on the “Digital” impact of the said move. Among those, SHAREit (light form), Baidu Maps, Clash of Kings, DU Battery Saver, Virus Cleaner, APUS Browser, BeautyPlus, Xender, Parallel Space (light form), ES File Explorer, VivaVideo (light form), DU Recorder, DU Cleaner, and Clean Master Cheetah are some of the apps that are still functioning. The interesting and valiant part is that Google had denied access to these apps, but just temporarily.
·Xiaomi’s App Store Having Access To some of The Banned Applications
Yes, those who are using Xiaomi Smartphones can still access all the apps banned by the IT Ministry, which brings Chinese smartphone brands into the picture. However, the same is not observed in all Chinese smartphone brands, but only those which have an in-built application to install apps as in the case. Xiaomi. Most other Chinese smartphone companies rely on Google’s play store itself. In 2018, Xiaomi developed an application software called ‘Xiaomi GetApps’, which was similar to Google’s play store and Apple’s app store. The most attractive feature of GetApps is that it provides one with the same apps as other app stores, irrespective of their nature, that is irrespective of whether those apps have been banned by the government or not. Applications like Hakuna, Vidmate, and MeetU which were among the apps banned by the government on 28thJuly, 2020, are still available on GetApps. Xiaomi has a 30% significant market share in India, which accounts for almost one-third of the 385 million internet users in India. The valid question here is if it is a secured application and if yes, then how does it have a security certificate! Well, the certificate is provided by the largest Chinese MNC- Tencent.[1]
Now, Xiaomi has been involved in various controversies- GPL(General Public License) violation, Data theft, and a temporary ban, which Indian courts had imposed. “Xiaomi was horribly secured for its resistance with the particulars of the GNU GPL[2]. The Android undertaking's Linux bit is authorized under the copy-left terms of the GPL, which requires Xiaomi to convey the total source code of the Android bit and gadget trees for each Android gadget it disperses. By declining to do as such, or by nonsensically postponing these discharges, Xiaomi works infringing upon protected innovation law in China, who is a member nation of WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation). Renowned Android designer, Francisco Franco openly censured Xiaomi's conduct after rehashed delays in the arrival of portion source code. Xiaomi, in 2013, said that it would discharge the part code. The bit source code is accessible on the GitHub Web development website.
In October 2014, Xiaomi declared that they were setting up workers outside of China for global clients, referring to improved administrations and consistence to guidelines in a few countries. Around a similar time, the Indian Air Force gave an admonition against Xiaomi telephones, expressing that they were a national danger as they sent client information to an organization of the Chinese government[3]. On 30th April 2020, it was accounted for by Forbes that Xiaomi widely tracked utilization of its programs, including private program movement, telephone metadata, and gadget route. Adding an insult to the injury, they did so without secure encryption or anonymity, more intrusively and to larger degree than standard programs. Xiaomi invalidated the cases, while certifying that it did broadly gather perusing information, and guaranteeing that the information was not connected to any people and that the buyers had assented to being followed. On 9th December, 2014, the High Court of Delhi allowed an ex-parte order that restricted the import and sale of Xiaomi items in India. “This order was given because of a protest documented by Ericsson, regarding the encroachment of its patent authorized under FRAND (Fair, Reasonable and Non Discriminatory Licensing). This directive given by the High Court was material until 5th February, 2015, the date on which the High Court was booked to call the two parties so as to acquaint itself with the facts of the case. On 16th December, the Delhi High Court conceded authorization to Xiaomi to sell its gadgets that were running on a Qualcomm-based processor until 8th January, 2015[4]”
· The Third Party Sites And Applications
When the news broke up into the country, the first people to get benefit were the VPN and other proxy network & site developers. VPN has been a part of the picture of Indian internet users for quite a long time. In 2015, the Honourable Court, as per the IT Act 2000, banned 900+ porn websites; then Virtual Proxy Network acted like a catalyst. Similar can now be observed in the case of Chinese apps banned by the Indian Government. But it’s not a one- hand job to access these banned apps.
The other hand is of third party websites like softonic.com or uptodown.com, which are available in the form of APK files. APK represents Android Package. An APK record will contain all the necessary codes to run the application on your telephone. Likewise, the APK may not contain the most recent or most refreshed rendition of the application. Further, downloading these documents from moderately obscure locales would not win as much confidence as the authentic play store. All applications, when downloaded as an APK record do not work, but a greater part of them is working[5].
VPN has a bad reputation, but it is not illegal to use it to access blocked or banned sites and applications in India. The IT Act 2000 does not contain any provisions to punish or penalise those accessing banned sites and downloading banned applications. Engaging in illegal activities such as downloading and distributing content that is illegally uploaded means that it is hosted online without paying due royalties to the creator. In such cases, the government may prosecute such a violator under Sections 63, 63A, 65, and 65A of The Copyright Act, 1957. Other than this, some techniques which work sometimes include a slight change in URL address from “http” to “https” or a change in the domain name server to Google DNS or OpenDNS.[6]
Conclusion
India accounts for 0.03% of the worldwide income of ByteDance, TIktok’s parent organisation. If we continue moving along these lines, forbidding these applications would make practically zero financial effect on China and inciting claims would simply be considered an instrument to propagate political incentive. Then again, this boycott may have hindered China’s top tech firms in what many consider to be the world’s biggest, undiscovered advanced market. Besides, this boycott may give a model to different nations that have communicated worries about the inescapability of applications like TikTok and the danger it presents to their residents’ information. Since every one of these applications have been expelled from the Google play store, it makes a reasonable path for Indian and American organizations to thrive into the market like Instagram did with “ REELS” as video highlight into their application, which gives the client comparable experience like TikTok. In any case, a few strategy specialists and researchers have noticed that in addition to an application boycott, India should organize restoring SAARC to viably manage China. For example, Mr. Prabhash Ranjan took note that India’s authorities have conflictingly utilized their delicate capacity to recover their situation as innovators in the SAARC locale and this could change in the event which requires them to secure their fringes without undermining their vote based system.
References
[1] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/hardware/delhi-high-court-allows-xiaomi-to-send-back-over-one-lakh-unused-redmi-notes/articleshow/47502509.cms [2]http://www.androidheadlines.com/2018/01/xiaomi-violating-gpl-2-0-license-with-mi-a1-kernel-sources.html [3] https://www.deccanchronicle.com/141022/technology-mobiles-and-tabs/article/indian-air-force-ban-xiaomi-smartphones [4]https://www.livemint.com/Companies/BP69vGrbfM2JGWTt593dqO/Delhi-HC-allows-Xiaomi-to-sell-in-India-till-8-January-subje.html [5] https://theprint.in/tech/shareit-baidu-maps-camscanner-at-least-23-of-banned-chinese-apps-still-in-use-in-india/469719/ [6] https://gadgets.ndtv.com/internet/features/how-to-access-blocked-websites-554909