<span>STORY: India is reviewing a proposal about greater phone-location surveillance.</span><span>That’s according to documents, emails and five sources.</span><span>The pitch is from the telecom industry to force smartphone firms to enable satellite location tracking.</span><span>Tech majors, including Apple, Google and Samsung have all opposed the move due to privacy concerns.</span><span>Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government this week pulled back from forcing smartphone makers to preload a state-run cyber safety app on all devices.</span><span>Activists and politicians had raised privacy worries about potential snooping.</span><span>The Modi administration has been concerned for years its agencies don’t get precise locations when legal requests are made to telecom firms during investigations.</span><span>The current system only allows companies to use cellular tower data.</span><span>That only provides an estimated area location, which can be off by several meters.</span><span>An email showed a leading Indian telecoms trade body proposed precise user locations should only be provided if authorities order smartphone makers to activate A-GPS technology.</span><span>It would require location services to always be activated in smartphones with no option for users to disable them.</span><span>Sources said Apple, Samsung and Alphabet’s Google have told New Delhi it shouldn’t be mandated.</span><span>India’s IT and home ministries are both analyzing the telecom industry’s proposal and didn’t respond to Reuters questions.</span>
