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Journalism of Courage
Have you been bombarded with messages from your telecom operators and bank accounts reminding you to link your Aadhaar card with your number? Well, in case you were now planning to get it done, here is a news that might just stop you in your tracks right away. According to a report by The Tribune, its investigating journalists “purchased” a service offered by anonymous sellers on WhatsApp allowing unlimited and unrestricted access to details of over one billion Aadhaar numbers in the country. All it took them was a Rs 500 payment through PayTM for facilitating the deal in a matter of 10 minutes. The news spread like wildfire, especially on the Internet, where people, some frightened and others furious, responded to the news in great numbers.
With most questions pointed towards the government, people, worried about the security of their personal data, asked who will take responsibility for this leak. “Rs 500 may not be enough for buying 1 vote in India, but it can surely buy 1 Billion Aadhaar details at once,” wrote another Twitter user.
https://twitter.com/drvaibhavmeena/status/948853699811590144
Meanwhile, UIDAI’s Twitter account issued a clarification claiming that this was a case of “misreporting” and that there has been no biometric data breach whatsoever. “Some persons have misused demographic search facility, given to designated officials to help residents who have lost Aadhaar/Enrollment slip to retrieve their details,” read one tweet and “@UIDAI maintains complete log & traceability of the facility, any misuse is traceable. Legal action taken, including FIR against persons involved. Search facility gives limited access to name & other details, has no access to biometric details,” read another. BJP’s Twitter account too, tweeted out an official statement, calling the report “fake news“.
