Updated: Jan 11, 2018 | 17:31 IST | ET Now Digital
Nandan Nilekani
Mumbai: Would you believe if we tell you the man who helped create India’s unique biometric identity program ‘Aadhaar’, had tweeted his ID three years ago. No, we are not joking.
According to a BuzzFeed news report, Nandan Nilekani exposed himself to identity theft by tweeting a picture of his own Aadhaar card on April 12, 2014. Though he blacked out the first 8-digits of his 12-digit Aadhaar number, he forgot to blacked the QR code which contains all his personal demographic details such as name, address that could be read by any freely available iOS or Android app used for scanning QR codes. Does that mean Nilekani’s private information remains online? The answer is YES.
BuzzFeed News reviewed at least half a dozen other web pages and found images of Nilekani’s tweet with his Aadhaar card exist on at least one popular website, that they don’t want it to be named.
Nilekani served as the head of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) from 2009 to 2014.On January 10, Nilekani, in an exclusive interview with ET NOW, praised the UIDAI for introducing the new security features for Aadhaar card and lashed out against its critics for making baseless allegations.
Nilekani, 62, said the move to introduce 'Virtual IDs' for each Aadhaar card holder is a significant move and puts to rest the debate of privacy surrounding the unique identification number.
Despite several people on Twitter pointing out a potential breach of privacy, Nilekani’s tweet remained on Twitter at least through September 2016, when he finally deleted it.
In September 2016, India’s government passed the Aadhaar Act to govern the program, which made publishing an Aadhaar number publicly a criminal offense.
Also Read: How do homeless people get Aadhaar if they have no home or permanent address? Supreme Court asks
Aadhaar is a 12 digit unique-identity number issued to all Indian residents based on their biometric and demographic data.
According to experts, Nilekani’s leaked Aadhaar number leaves him vulnerable to identity fraud as the government has made the unique ID mandatory for carrying out a number of tasks.
These include linking bank accounts and mobile phone number. You are also required to link your 12-digit unique identification number Aadhaar to mutual fund holdings, insurance policy, PPF and small savings schemes such as Kisan Vikas Patra.
Recently, the government has made Aadhaar number mandatory for obtaining benefits under the Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana (VPBY) pension scheme. The move was made to bring in greater transparency and maintain digital records of financial products through the country. In addition to financial products mobile SIMs, PFs and other social schemes have also been urged to be linked to Aadhaar.
After The Tribune published an investigation revealing how it was able to buy unauthorized access to the demographic details of nearly 1.2 billion Indians in the Aadhaar database earlier this week at a mere Rs 500, the UIDAI took to the Twitter and wrote, “having someone’s Aadhaar number and demographic information was “not a security threat” without also having their biometric information. But a day later, the UIDAI sent out a tweet cautioning the general public about the importance of keeping Aadhaar numbers confidential.
Please ensure that you delete the local copy of Aadhaar downloaded in any cyber cafe or on any other public machine as it may lead to misuse. #AadhaarEssentials
In a major security upgrade, the UIDAI on January 10 introduced two measures to make Aadhaar cards more secure. With the introduction of virtual IDs, no Aadhaar cardholder will have to disclose their actual card number to third-party services.
In August 2017, the Supreme Court held that privacy is a fundamental right under the Constitution of India.