---
layout: default
title: "Android 10 Out, Big on 'Privacy'"
description: "A Deccan Herald report from September 2019 on Android 10's privacy features, examining the broader trend of tech companies emphasizing privacy-enhancing technologies following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, featuring analysis from Sunil Abraham of the Centre for Internet and Society."
categories: [Media mentions]
date: 2019-09-04
authors: ["Roshan H Nair"]
source: "Deccan Herald"
permalink: /media/android-10-privacy-deccan-herald/
created: 2025-12-27
---

**Android 10 Out, Big on 'Privacy'** is a *Deccan Herald* report published on 4 September 2019 by Roshan H Nair. The article examines Google's launch of Android 10 with enhanced privacy features, situating it within a broader industry shift toward privacy-enhancing technologies following public backlash over data misuse scandals. It features commentary from Sunil Abraham, then Executive Director of the Centre for Internet and Society, Bengaluru.

## Contents

1. [Article Details](#article-details)  
2. [Full Text](#full-text)  
3. [Context and Background](#context-and-background)  
4. [External Link](#external-link)

## Article Details

<dl class="media-details">
  <dt>📰 Published in:</dt>
  <dd><em>Deccan Herald</em></dd>

  <dt>📅 Date:</dt>
  <dd>4 September 2019</dd>

  <dt>✍️ Author:</dt>
  <dd>Roshan H Nair</dd>

  <dt>📄 Type:</dt>
  <dd>News Report</dd>

  <dt>📰 Newspaper Link:</dt>
  <dd>
    <a class="btn" href="https://www.deccanherald.com/india/karnataka/bengaluru/android-10-out-big-on-privacy-759085.html">
      Read Online
    </a>
  </dd>
</dl>

## Full Text

<div class="highlighted-text" id="fulltext">

<p>The much-awaited 'Android 10' software for phones was launched on Wednesday. In a video put out by the company, a host of new features is visible, one of the most prominent being enhanced privacy. The video says Android 10 has "privacy features that put you in control".</p>

<p>Android 10 is only the latest in a series of tech products that project 'privacy' as a special feature.</p>

<p>The world is still recovering from the shock of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and has become more protective about its personal data and suspicious about big tech companies.</p>

<p>Originally, it was only Apple products that advertised privacy as one of its special features. Now, every platform seems to want to mark themselves 'safe'.</p>

<p>"WhatsApp is promising end-to-end encryption. Facebook is saying all messaging will become like it is in WhatsApp. Microsoft, setting itself apart from Google and Facebook, is claiming that it doesn't depend on customer's data for its business model," Sunil Abraham, executive director of The Centre for Internet and Society, Bengaluru, says.</p>

<p>"More and more, companies are using systems such as local storage, local processing, end-to-end encryption for messages, commitment not to upload your personal data and encryption of cloud storage. These are all broad movements in what is called 'Privacy Enhancing Technologies', now a domain of technology," Abraham says.</p>

<p>At the moment, only Pixel phones have Android 10.</p>

<p>The software will be available on more phones in the coming months.</p>

</div>

<button class="copy-btn-full" data-copytarget="#fulltext">Copy Full Text</button>

{% include back-to-top.html %}

## Context and Background

Android 10, released on 3 September 2019, marked a significant shift in Google's approach to user privacy. The update introduced granular location controls allowing users to restrict apps to accessing location data only while in active foreground use, scoped storage limiting apps' access to external storage, and restrictions on background activity launches. These changes represented one of the most comprehensive privacy overhauls in Android's history, reflecting mounting regulatory and public pressure following data misuse scandals.

The Cambridge Analytica scandal, which broke in March 2018, revealed that the political consulting firm had harvested personal data from approximately 87 million Facebook users without consent, using it for targeted political advertising during the 2016 US presidential election and the Brexit referendum. This incident catalyzed widespread public distrust of technology companies' data practices and prompted increased regulatory scrutiny globally, including the EU's General Data Protection Regulation enforcement and calls for similar frameworks elsewhere.

Abraham's reference to Privacy Enhancing Technologies encompassed a range of technical approaches designed to protect personal data while maintaining functionality. These included end-to-end encryption, which prevents service providers from accessing message contents; local processing, where computations occur on-device rather than on remote servers; differential privacy techniques that add mathematical noise to datasets to protect individual identities; and homomorphic encryption enabling analysis of encrypted data without decryption.

The competitive dynamics Abraham described reflected strategic positioning within the technology sector. Apple had long marketed privacy as a core differentiator, emphasizing that its business model relied on hardware sales rather than advertising revenue. Microsoft similarly sought to distinguish itself from advertising-dependent competitors like Google and Facebook. Facebook's announcement that all messaging would adopt WhatsApp-style encryption came amid ongoing scrutiny over its data handling practices, though critics noted this did not address metadata collection or platform-level data aggregation.

Android 10's initial release was limited to Google's Pixel devices, with broader rollout to other manufacturers' devices occurring over subsequent months—a pattern typical of Android updates due to the platform's fragmented ecosystem requiring device-specific customizations.

## External Link

- <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/india/karnataka/bengaluru/android-10-out-big-on-privacy-759085.html">Read on Deccan Herald</a>

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