Don’t share Aadhaar details: UIDAI
TUESDAY’S STATEMENT ALSO SAID USING ANOTHER PERSON’S AADHAAR NUMBER WOULD INVITE LEGAL ACTION UNDER THE AADHAAR ACT
NEWDELHI: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Tuesday advised people not to share their Aadhaar numbers publicly, after several people published them on social media to mimic a challenge thrown by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India ( TRAI) chairman RS Sharma.
“Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) today has advised people to refrain from publicly putting their Aadhaar numbers on internet and social media and posing challenges to others,” the authority said in a statement.
The agency said, “such activities are uncalled for and should be refrained as these are not in accordance with the law. Aadhaar is a unique identity which can be authenticated to prove one’s identity for various services, benefits and subsidies. UIDAI, in its regular media campaigns, has been consistently making people aware not to display or publish or share their Aadhaar number i n public domain.”
The Aadhaar number is to be treated like “bank account num- ber, passport number, PAN number, etc” and can be shared only as and when required for legitimate purposes, it said.
“Also, as per the Aadhaar Act, 2016 and IT (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011 and Justice Srikrishna’s proposed Data Protection Bill, personally sensitive information should not be published or shared publicly. Indiscriminate and unwanted publication of any personally sensitive information whether Aadhaar or any other, may render the concerned person vulnerable...” it added.
On Saturday, Sharma shared his Aadhaar number on Twitter, challenging anyone to show him “one concrete example where you can do any harm to me”.
After security experts and other Twitter users revealed per- sonal details of Sharma, including his phone number, bank account number and home address, several people, in support of Sharma, tweeted their own Aadhaar numbers, throwing open the same challenge.
Others claimed they had prepared fake Aadhaar cards using Sharma’s 12-digit unique identification number and used them successfully as ID proof.
Tuesday’s statement also said using another person’s Aadhaar number would invite legal action under the Aadhaar Act. “Doing Aadhaar authentication through somebody else’s Aadhaar number or using someone else’s Aadhaar number for any purpose may amount to impersonation and thereby a criminal offence under the Aadhaar Act and Indian Penal Code. Any person indulging in such acts or abetting or inciting others to do so makes themselves liable for prosecution and penal action under the law. Therefore people should refrain from such acts,” it said.
The UIDAI statement came the same day the issue was raised in the Parliament.
Congress Lok Sabha MP KC Venugopal described Sharma’s ‘Aadhaar challenge’ on Twitter as bizarre.
“Hackers are claiming to have accessed his (Sharma) private information. This has caused serious concerns and apprehensions among people about safety and security of their personal information...” he said.
Reports have also pointed out that the bank details of thousands of citizens in the country have been compromised through fake banking applications, he said.
This is a great threat to the financial security and privacy of the citizens, he said.
“It’s very good to clarify this now, but does not seem to have much net effect. In the list of proposals and amendments to Aadhaar Act in the Srikrishna committee report, it remphasizes that the Aadhaar number is a secret number and therefore putting it online would be criminal,” Raman Jit Singh Chima, policy director at Access Now and a volunteer with the Saveourprivacy campaign said.
“But the point is the government itself can’t make up its mind and different institutions are saying different things, indicating that they are all confused about Aadhaar, and they won’t be taken seriously,” he added.
Sharma did not respond to messages seeking comment.