Truecaller app makes contacts identities public:
Mahesh(name changed),a celebrity,received a call from an unknown person who threatened him with dire consequence.he later found that the caller had obtained his number from turecaller,a mobile application.this application uploads contact details from a person's mobile phone book on to its website without the permission of the owner.
several others like mahesh were shocked to see their personal cell number with names and their location available on the truecaller website.
"if my name and number are going to pop up at the click of a mouse,i feel vulnerable.though it gives me statisfaction that my phone can be tracked with this software(if i should ever lose it),it is also worrying that i can be tracked too",says R.shrimathy,who works as a faculty member in a private city college.
V.sudarshan, a mechanical engineer,endorsed shrimathy's concern and said it would be imperative to keep away from these application as it not only compromises one's life in risk if the cell phone data were to land in terrorist hands.
J.prasanna, head(tech core), cyber security & privacy foundation,pointed out that the syrian electronic army recently hacked into truecaller's server and published the identity of people at risk.
"This application is definitely a threat to people's privacy.when someone installs truecaller on their cellphone it automatically uploads a contact's name and number onto its global website database.so is's easy to track anybody with this app",he said.
The cyber expert also said that nowdays, techsavvy criminals used truecaller to ensure that their real identity was hidden."By putting their false names on various cell phones so that their false identity gets reflected on the truecaller website,you may end up going after the wrong guy when somthing happens,"he added.
