Truecaller Voz

[Chiquita Palafox]

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You probably can guess my gripe with Truecaller now based on this article's title and the last sentence. But if you assume that I only have an issue with my phone number being collected by Truecaller (without my direct consent) then you are wrong. It's not only my phone number that they collect, it's all the other information I mentioned: address, birthdate, and pictures, and maybe even more than that.

1. Through partnerships with various directory providers globally - Ok, but WHICH providers?? Under which privacy laws are they governed, if at all? Are the clients of those directory providers consenting to their data being shared in this manner?
2. Social networks - How unsurprising. Of course the social network giants will share their user's data with shady companies like Truecaller for money. But that's on the social network users not the social network platforms themselves; they usually explicitly indicate their intentions in their convoluted privacy policies which their users unwittingly agree to without reading.
3. Additionally, all users registering to our app will be listed - you'd think this statement means that only the information of Truecaller's users will be collected. And you know what? If that was the case, I'd be OK with it. Users can do whatever they want with their personal information. If they want to upload it to shady companies who criminally monetize it so be it. However, this statement is not completely true. It missing a crucial piece of information which I think many people (especially ones who are not tech savvy) do not realize. Truecaller also lists UNREGISTERED users' information on their app.

Does this screenshot look familiar? That's Truecaller asking its users to allow its app access to the user's ENTIRE contact book stored on their phone. The app then uploads all the contacts on your phone to Truecaller's servers which then makes it available to all Truecaller users on their app and on their website.

Ok let me first share my personal story with Truecaller which is a funny one (I think) and actually did benefit me even though I never registered for the service. But that was just a stroke of luck.

A few years ago I was drafted into military service during which I served in a sensitive post to do with my base's operations. Towards the end of my service, I've become known in my base (and others) as the guy to go to to get operations matters resolved and processed. So naturally, my phone number was circulated widely between military personnel.

Now that I am out of the army, I've found out recently from people who use Truecaller that when I dial them my name appears as (rough translation) "Adham Army Operations". This Arabic version is a little more vague and could mean Special Forces ???

This never fails to strike up some cautious jokes and chuckles. Maybe even people who answer my calls are more likely to show more respect than usual (whether genuinely or out fear is speculative). But I'm more concerned with the active military personnel who actually use Truecaller, meaning Truecaller probably has pretty extensive database of our military's contact info and ranks + posts....?

Maybe that scenario is a bit dramatic, but other harmful scenarios are also possible with Truecaller's data model. I can see this being used as a bullying tool in schools or elsewhere where a group of Truecaller users purposefully store someone's phone number with an offensive or derogatory name. You think teenagers are not capable of such social bullying? Can this not lead to depression and suicide in some people?

What about the scenario where a person's hidden sexuality is revealed/leaked in conservative society that discriminants against homosexuals? If I were a gay person living in such a society and my close friends who know of my secret stored me as "Gay Adham" and Truecaller decided to choose that name to show people when I call...let's just say the repercussions can be severe and life changing in a bad way.

Funnily enough, if I were a scammer I'd see this as an incredibly easy loophole. All I have to do to convince you that I am a person I am not is buy new phone number, get some other phones I control to download the Truecaller app and register my newly purchased number as whatever name I please like, oh I don't know "IRS Agent" or "Bank of America Fraud Analyst". Now if you're a trusting truecaller user and you fall for this scam you kinda deserve it.

Sure you can argue that Truecaller can easily modify their algorithms to prevent scammers from doing so by validating against official institution phone numbers, maybe they already do that. But this solution is not feasible and cannot account for the thousands of public & private institutions around the world and the hundreds of languages which users and scammers can choose to store their names.

It's not even limited to institutions, I could easily get my phone registered as any public or private figure and pretend to be someone else, for whatever malicious purpose I choose. Hey, knowing what I know now and the steps described above, I can easily impersonate a ranking officer in the military and issue stupid order or release a dangerous prisoner.

If you're wondering what kind of data protection laws Truecaller abides by, you'd be disappointed to know that they are governed by Indian law which is lagging behind on privacy laws compared to western countries. A study of 47 countries and their privacy regulations done in 2019 put India among the worst countries when it comes to protecting its citizenz' data let alone foreigner's data. India scored 2.4, ranking just above China (1.8) and Russia (2.1). Although a new Data Protection bill is in the works in India's Parliament which is a good step I guess, I urge you not to kid yourself. If you ever get harmed by Truecaller's service either directly or indirectly, there is no court in the world in which you can sue and get compensated.

They clearly state that "You expressly agree that truecaller shall in no event be liable for any direct, indirect, special, incidental, consequential or exemplary damages". They even do so in ALL CAPS.

If you not a Truecaller user like me and never have been, I'm sorry to say that you can do next to nothing. Just don't get tempted to use their services, no matter how badly you need to know that unknown number calling you. You could also spread awareness of this issue to the people around you.

If you're a Truecaller user, I'm afraid the damage you did is already done and irreversible. You can choose to uninstall the app, and request that you contact info is removed from their servers (no guarantees that they will do so) but the contact info of everyone on your phone is going to stay there forever until everyone affected requests that their info be removed as well.

The warning they issue before I continue to unlist is that after removing my phone number I "can no longer use the app". What? I never used the app to begin with. Does that mean they will only remove my phone number if and only if I registered with them before? Would they even honor their promise to remove my phone number forever and prevent it from being added again by new Truecaller users? This vagueness and lack of transparency is aggravating!

I have nothing against innovation and I cannot deny that the app exists to solve a problem people have with unknown callers. Maybe that's all its creators intended it to be and they are sincere about it. I doubt the sincerity part though since their sevice being "free" means they're selling our data and mostly without consent. They probably made money selling my contact information and I never even used their service!

Besides, I hope I made it clear why the benefits of Truecaller does NOT outweigh its cost. Some consequences of using their service may literally put lives in danger or put individuals at disadvantages. In my opinion, not even Facebook or Google can cause as much harm as truecaller and that's saying something...

STOCKHOLM, Feb. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Truecaller, the leading global platform for verifying contacts and blocking unwanted communications, has partnered with several world leading global Android smartphone manufacturers to preload the Truecaller app on smartphones in key markets such as India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Latin America. Truecaller is platform agnostic and aims to work with as many smartphone makers as possible in the future.

"Truecaller remains one of the most downloaded apps in several large countries. However, not every smartphone user is tech-savvy enough to download an app. Anecdotally, we often hear how first-time smartphone users in emerging markets take the help of shopkeepers or friends and family to download Truecaller. This move is in line with our global ambitions to make it available for everyone, but also aims to make Truecaller easier to use for millions of new users.", said Alan Mamedi, CEO and co-founder of Truecaller.

"With the latest version of Truecaller pre-installed on several Asian world leading smartphone makers, consumers can be up and running with Truecaller within seconds of setting up their new phone. Although these pre-installs do not automatically generate a new active user on Truecaller, it is an important step to allow more consumers to discover and benefit from the features of Truecaller. Today, we have more than 220 million active users in India, a country with more than 450 million smartphone users. This number is expected to grow to over 700 million smartphone users in the coming three years. During the last two years, our market penetration has grown from 35 percent to almost 50 percent and we see a great potential with these kinds of partnerships to scale this even faster", concluded Alan.

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