Congress explains why they removed 'With INC' app from Google Play Store

The Congress party appears to have taken their app ‘With INC’ off Google PlayStore. A cursory search for the app on App Store also fails to throw up any results for the Congress app.

Clicking on links which come up after a Google search reads, ‘This content is not available in your country yet. We're working to bring the content you love to more countries as quickly as possible. Please check back again soon.’

The Congress’ official Twitter handle  wrote they were ‘forced to remove the app from Play Store as the wrong URL was being circulated’.

They wrote: “The WithINC app is a membership app & has not been in use for over 5 months since we moved membership to http://www.inc.in  from 16th Nov 2017. The URL (http://membership.inc.in ) quoted by the media is the defunct URL from the app. The actual membership URL can be seen below. WithINC app was being used for Social Media updates alone since transitioning the membership to the website. This morning we were forced to remove the app from the Playstore as the wrong URL was being circulated & people were being misled.”

Congress social media in-charge Divya Spandana wrote on Twitter: “The URL for membership on the INC app has been defunct for a while now. Our membership is through the INC website. How difficult is that to understand.”

The WithINC app is a membership app & has not been in use for over 5 months since we moved membership to https://t.co/HkouqDJ8hN from 16th Nov 2017.
The URL (https://t.co/s6EcGp0Oet) quoted by the media is the defunct URL from the app. The actual membership URL can be seen below pic.twitter.com/bXFXBEdcUg

— Congress (@INCIndia) March 26, 2018

WithINC app was being used for Social Media updates alone since transitioning the membership to the website. This morning we were forced to remove the app from the Playstore as the wrong URL was being circulated & people were being misled.

— Congress (@INCIndia) March 26, 2018

The URL for membership on the INC app has been defunct for a while now. Our membership is through the INC website. How difficult is that to understand- https://t.co/UbS5vrTcNL

— Divya Spandana/Ramya (@divyaspandana) March 26, 2018

French security researcher Baptiste Robert, who is known by his Twitter username Elliot Alderson, also put out a tweet saying, ‘Did @INCIndia removed their #android #app from the PlayStore just before my tweet’’

Earlier in the day, Robert had tweeted, ‘The IP address of http://membership.inc.in is 52.77.237.47. This server is located in Singapore. As you are an #Indian political party, having your server in #India is probably a good idea.’

Did @INCIndia removed their #android #app from the PlayStore just before my tweet?

— Elliot Alderson (@fs0c131y) March 26, 2018

The IP address of https://t.co/t1pidQUmtq is 52.77.237.47. This server is located in Singapore. As you are an #Indian political party, having your server in #India is probably a good idea. pic.twitter.com/tbspCtOPfB

— Elliot Alderson (@fs0c131y) March 26, 2018

The development comes hours after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) IT cell head Amit Malviya questioned the Congress party for sharing the personal details of its app’s users with a Singapore-based firm.

 The Congress and the BJP again locked horns on the prickly issue of data sharing with Rahul Gandhi dubbing Prime Minister Narendra Modi the "Big Boss who likes to spy on Indians" and the ruling party accusing the opposition party of "theft".

Taking to Twitter after allegations surfaced that data from the prime minister's official app was being shared without the consent of users, the Congress president said the NaMo app secretly recorded audio, video, contacts and even tracked location via GPS.

"Modi's NaMo App secretly records audio, video, contacts of your friends and family and even tracks your location via GPS. He's the Big Boss who likes to spy on Indians.

"Now he wants data on our children. 13 lakh NCC cadets are being forced to download the APP," Gandhi said on Twitter using the hashtag "DeleteNaMoApp".

The BJP, however, rubbished the charge and alleged that the Congress chief was speaking a "lie".

Hitting out at Gandhi, BJP's IT cell in-charge Amit Malviya said it was his party's app that was sharing user data with his friends in Singapore.

"Hi! My name is Rahul Gandhi. I am the President of India's oldest political party. When you sign up for our official App, I give all your data to my friends in Singapore," Malviya said, mimicking Gandhi's tweet yesterday.

"Full marks to Congress for stating upfront that they'll give your data to **practically anyone** - undisclosed vendors, unknown volunteers, even 'groups with similar causes'. In theft of all forms, Congress has never been discreet!" Malviya tweeted.

Malviya went on to allege that the Congress, inspired by its leader Sonia Gandhi's "all power no accountability", will take all your data, even share it worldwide with organisations like Cambridge Analytica but will not take responsibility of it.

The party had yesterday said that contrary to Rahul Gandhi's lies, data was being used for only analytics using third party services, similar to Google Analytics.

"Analytics on the user data is done for offering users the most contextual content," it said.

The party claimed the Narendra Modi app is unique and gives access to users in guest mode' without even any permission or data.

"The permissions required are all contextual and cause-specific," the BJP stated on its Twitter handle.

The Congress chief had yesterday attacked Modi over allegations of data sharing from his official app without users' consent. Gandhi also accused the media of "burying" the story.

"Hi! My name is Narendra Modi. I am India's Prime Minister. When you sign up for my official App, I give all your data to my friends in American companies, Gandhi said on Twitter.

In the tweet, he also attached a news story titled, Data theft allegations reaches PM Modi's doorstep, French vigilante hacker's stunning revelation".

The Congress and the BJP have indulged in a slinging match over data theft and the use of services of Cambridge Analytica, accused of harvesting data from Facebook

With inputs from PTI