Sharing Location over an App? Make Sure you have a Licence

Proposed Bill will impact technology giants such as Google and Uber as well as millions of Indians using GPS-enabled smartphones to order a pizza or even to call a cab
Runners in Bengaluru's Cubbon park, adventure enthusiasts trekking through the foothills of the Himalayas, startups in Gurgaon seeking customers--all could be in dire trouble if the government has its way on regularising and licensing maps.

This could end up becoming a nightmare not just for technology giants such as Google or Uber but also for millions of Indians who use maps everyday to order pizza or call a cab.

A draft of the Geospatial Information Regulation Bill, released last week for public comment, says anyone mapping India by using a satellite or aerial platform will need a license from a government security vetting authority (SVA).

According to experts, the proposed law will bring into its ambit not just companies or agencies using maps for professional reasons but anybody with a smartphone that is GPS enabled. So be careful about taking that selfie--it may be geotagged.

Mandip Singh Soin, founder of Ibex Expeditions, said the draft seems “bizarre“ and could impact the safety of adventure climbers, trekkers and even those on rescue missions, all of these relying heavily on maps.

“The plotting of routes, treks etc. is all done according to maps by companies like Google.We need to share it with our customers and guides,“ said Soin, who is also a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society . This adds to the challenges already facing the adventure tourism industry as the current law denies access to physical maps of mountainous regions, forcing them to rely on digital maps by Google.

Sajjad Anwar, a GIS expert leading the savethemap campaign against the legislation (http: savethemap.in), said the scope of the bill is so vast that it covers everything from a giant imaging company to a delivery startup.

“One of the biggest ironies is that India has so many users of Android phones and smartphones who are knowingly or unknowingly sharing their location real time through GPS,“ he said. “They may be sharing their location via WhatsApp with friends, or on a delivery app or while engaging in running or walking. If the bill becomes law, it prohibits all this.“

He said it would be highly impractical for each smartphone user to get a licence. “It is also not clear to what extent it is punishable and seems highly unenforceable,“ Anwar said.

For some, the bill is remini scent of the pre-Google maps era. Rahul Sinha, a Mumbai-based stock broker, fears that he may have to go back to the time when people lined up at the Survey of India office with authorization letters to buy topography maps of villages just to learn how to read them.

The legislation will mean the kiss of death for innovation, said Sanjay Kumar, president of the Association of Geospatial Industries (AGI) lobby group, of which Google is a member. “Without geospatial information, you have no innovative business models around internet of things, autonomous vehicles, ecommerce, mobile banking or social media,“ he said, adding that the bill would render illegal all businesses dependent on real-time navigation and location intelligence.

The draft is clear on the level of compliance that will be so ught. “Any person who wants to acquire, disseminate, publish or distribute any geospatial information of India, may make an application along with requisite fees to the security vetting authority for security vetting of such geospatial information and licence thereof to acquire, disseminate, publish or distribute such geospatial information in any electronic or physical form,“ reads the legislation.

For startups as well as other companies focused on delivery or logistics, location information is the key to business, Anwar said. “It is kind of baffling since larger companies may have the money to go through the security vetting but what about the upstarts?“ The government will respond within three months of a licence application, but given the dynamic nature of maps, the spatial data may get obsolete in that period, Anwar said.

The AGI's Kumar said the legislation was “anti-national“ and went against some of government's most ambitious projects, including Smart Cities.

The Economic Times New Delhi,11th May 2016