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After Months of Heated Argument, Apple Permits Indian Telecom Regulator To Release Anti-Spam App, TRAI DND, On App Store (venturebeat.com)
After months of back and forth, Apple has permitted Indian telecom regulator TRAI to release its anti-spam app on the App Store. The app, called TRAI DND - Do Not Disturb, went live on the iPhone app store on Friday. The free app, a version of which has existed on Android platform since 2016, allows customers to block unsolicited texts and calls from marketers, a rampant issue that continues to plague customers in India.
The app has been the subject of months-long, heated argument between Apple and TRAI. Apple had argued that the app, which by design accesses message and call logs of a user, violates its privacy policy. The company, however, had agreed to provide some help to the regulator to tap into new iOS features to build the "Do Not Disturb" app. In response, R.S. Sharma, who heads the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, had threatened to take legal action against Apple. "This is unjust, it shows the approach and attitude of this company," he told Reuters in March.
Further reading: Apple approves Indian government's Do Not Disturb app, avoiding iPhone ban.
The app has been the subject of months-long, heated argument between Apple and TRAI. Apple had argued that the app, which by design accesses message and call logs of a user, violates its privacy policy. The company, however, had agreed to provide some help to the regulator to tap into new iOS features to build the "Do Not Disturb" app. In response, R.S. Sharma, who heads the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, had threatened to take legal action against Apple. "This is unjust, it shows the approach and attitude of this company," he told Reuters in March.
Further reading: Apple approves Indian government's Do Not Disturb app, avoiding iPhone ban.
Actually I just set my iphone to always be in Do Not Disturb mode and allow only calls from my contact list. So all of the rampant junk calls go straight to voicemail. I later check the transcripts of the calls and instantly dismiss the ones with no message or messages that start with obvious spam content.
Works great for me.
I actually sympathize with apple over this one. Allowing any third party direct access to call/sms/etc data on the phone is a security risk. We have enough privacy risk in our lives, we don't need government mandated apps that dig even deeper into our data and activities.
Warning: Teh poster of this messaeg is lysdexic