Aadhaar ID to be Publicly Shared or Not? After TRAI Chief's Twitter Dare, UIDAI Mulls Issuing Dos and Don'ts
In order to address the doubts, UIDAI is planning a public outreach programme to educate the citizens on where to share the Aadhaar number and where to avoid.
New Delhi, Aug 12: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is mulling over releasing a list of dos and don'ts related to the sharing of Aadhaar ID. The potential move comes days after a top regulatory body chief posted his identification number on Twitter, challenging hackers to intrude into his privacy using the same.
On July 31 - a week after the Aadhaar dare of TRAI chief RS Sharma - the UIDAI issued a statement warning the common populace against posting similar hack dares on Twitter, Facebook or any other form of public platform.
In its statement, the nodal Aadhaar body said that sharing the ID number publicly could invite miscreants for its misuse. The number could be used by anti-social elements for impersonation purposes.
Following UIDAI's note of caution in response to Sharma's Aadhaar dare, a section of netizens were confused whether the Aadhaar number should be shared or not.
In order to address the doubts, UIDAI is planning a public outreach programme to educate the citizens on where to share the Aadhaar number and where to avoid.
"It is necessary to inform people that they should use Aadhaar freely, without fear, and a detailed FAQ (frequently asked questions) will be issued in this regard," Ajay Bhushan Pandey, CEO of UIDAI.
Pandey claimed that the UIDAI would tell the citizens to consider their Aadhaar PIN akin to the bank account number or PAN, which is used for identification and other specific purposes, but is recommended not to be shared publicly.
The FAQ will address 6 to 7 major questions which Aadhaar sceptics have raised in the aftermath of the ID hack challenge issued by Sharma on Twitter.
The TRAI chief's number, claimed a couple of anonymous hackers, was used by them to access his bank account number, PAN and contact details. Sharma, however, denied, saying the claims made by the purported hackers are untrue.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 12, 2018 05:07 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).