Aarogya Setu, the Indian government's contact tracing app, will soon offer e-passes for movement, MediaNama observed in both the Android and iOS versions of the app today. [caption id="attachment_213397" align="aligncenter" width="550"] E-passes will soon be introduced on Aarogya Setu[/caption] And that's not the only thing. On April 12, we saw that an update to the app created a section asking for donations to PM CARES Fund, a public charitable trust, that has been set up to deal "with any kind of emergency or distress situation, like posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and to provide relief to the affected". The Prime Minister is the chairperson of the trust by virtue of his position. [caption id="attachment_213400" align="aligncenter" width="550"] On iOS, on clicking on "Donate Using UPI", only a blank tab popped up at the bottom. The transaction went seamlessly on Android. Note the copy to clipboard symbols next to the account information (encircled in red). We were able to copy the information without any problem.[/caption] The short section asking for donations via UPI allows people to copy the details to another app, implying that the app also has access to the phone's clipboard. When we tried the link, it worked easily on Android, but not on iOS. Read more: Aarogya Setu updated its privacy policy: All you need to know MediaNama's take: These two developments show that the government is going well beyond the stated objective of Aarogya Setu, that is, contact tracing to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. In the process, it is…
