A cyber security researcher alleged that Siddaramaiah's app was selling personal data of the users.
Karnataka Chief Minister
Siddaramaiah's app has gone missing from the google play store after a person on Twitter alleged that it was selling personal data of the users to a private company. Amid a massive data breach scandal, the Congress had pulled down its app earlier saying ts app was connecting to a "membership" site that was "dysfunctional" and being wrongly circulated.
The Siddaramaiah app was run by the state government and promised to connect the chief minister to the people.
On clicking the links that come up on a Google search, a message reads, "This content is not available in your country yet. We're working to bring the content you love to more countries as quickly as possible. Please check back again soon."
French security researcher Baptiste Robert, who is known by his Twitter username Elliot Alderson, said that the name, phone number, date of birth, gender of a user is sent to a private company.
"1/ People asked me if this tweet is true or not. Let's talk about this app," Alderson tweeted.
"2/ Every time, I open the app I have this pop up: "Internet speed is too slow". As a consequence, I was unable to make a dynamic analysis and so confirm the tweet above," he said.
On March 26, the Congress party appeared to have taken their app 'With INC' off the Google Store. A cursory search for the app on Apple App Store also failed to throw up any results. The Congress denied collecting any personal data through the INC app and said it had been defunct for some time.
A political row has erupted over the
Cambridge Analytica scandal, which involves the mining of personal data of
Facebook users by the research group to help political parties. Over the past few days, a whistleblower has revealed details of Cambridge Analytica's work in India with multiple parties. He also named the Congress as a client of the firm before a UK parliamentary committee.
(with inputs from ANI)