Iran is one of the countries with a very serious coronavirus infection rates at the moment. However, there are allegations that the government appears to be exploiting that for the sake of political control.
Vice reported that a government-endorsed app, AC19, poses as a tool to help diagnose the presence of the virus (a bogus claim by itself) but also asks for real-time location data -- clearly not necessary for telling someone whether or not they should go to the hospital.
Moreover, the location permission request pop-up is in English - and about 40 percent of Android users in Iran have phones with an OS old enough that they won't get that pop-up at all.
AC19's developer, Sarzamin Housmand (formerly Smart Land Solutions), is also known for developing government clones of Telegram that weren't as secure as the real thing and were geared more toward enabling surveillance.
While it's not clear exactly what the Iranian government is doing with the data, it's eager to brag about the scale. ICT minister MJ Azari Jahromi recently boasted that millions of users were submitting data, ostensibly to help create a risk map.
The problem is that Iran is notorious for extensive monitoring and a willingness to take extreme measures to clamp down on dissent. There are concerns Iran is underreporting its coronavirus infection and mortality rates to maintain the appearance of control and quash opposition, and AC19 may help it identify where some of those political opponents are going.
Last 14 March, Iran said that the coronavirus outbreak has killed another 97 people, pushing the death toll in the country to 611, as war-ravaged Syria announced a number of strict measures despite the government saying it has no confirmed cases.
Iran is suffering from the worst outbreak in the Middle East, with 12,729 cases and even senior officials testing positive. It is a close ally of the Syrian government in the civil war, with military advisers as well as Shiite pilgrims frequently travelling between the two countries.
Vice reported that a government-endorsed app, AC19, poses as a tool to help diagnose the presence of the virus (a bogus claim by itself) but also asks for real-time location data -- clearly not necessary for telling someone whether or not they should go to the hospital.
Moreover, the location permission request pop-up is in English - and about 40 percent of Android users in Iran have phones with an OS old enough that they won't get that pop-up at all.
AC19's developer, Sarzamin Housmand (formerly Smart Land Solutions), is also known for developing government clones of Telegram that weren't as secure as the real thing and were geared more toward enabling surveillance.
While it's not clear exactly what the Iranian government is doing with the data, it's eager to brag about the scale. ICT minister MJ Azari Jahromi recently boasted that millions of users were submitting data, ostensibly to help create a risk map.
The problem is that Iran is notorious for extensive monitoring and a willingness to take extreme measures to clamp down on dissent. There are concerns Iran is underreporting its coronavirus infection and mortality rates to maintain the appearance of control and quash opposition, and AC19 may help it identify where some of those political opponents are going.
Last 14 March, Iran said that the coronavirus outbreak has killed another 97 people, pushing the death toll in the country to 611, as war-ravaged Syria announced a number of strict measures despite the government saying it has no confirmed cases.
Iran is suffering from the worst outbreak in the Middle East, with 12,729 cases and even senior officials testing positive. It is a close ally of the Syrian government in the civil war, with military advisers as well as Shiite pilgrims frequently travelling between the two countries.
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