The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Tuesday advised people to refrain from putting their Aadhaar numbers on the Internet and social media.
The move comes a few days after the outgoing Chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, R.S. Sharma, made his Aadhaar number public, throwing an open challenge to users to “do any harm to me.” Mr. Sharma had said the motive was to debunk the theory that Aadhaar compromises the privacy of a person. Following suit, a lot of people started posting their Aadhaar numbers online.
“[UIDAI] has advised people to refrain from publicly putting their Aadhaar numbers on internet and social media and posing challenges to others.
“This advisory has come from the UIDAI with reference to some news items appearing on social media reporting a few persons publicly posting their Aadhaar numbers on internet and social media and posing challenges to others,” it said in a statement.
It stressed that the Aadhaar number is personally sensitive information like bank account number, passport number and PAN number, which should be shared only on a need basis for a legitimate use for establishing identity and for legitimate transactions.
Raised in Lok Sabha
Meanwhile Congress MP K.C. Venugopal on Tuesday raised in the Lok Sabha the issue of Mr. Sharma’s dare, saying the country was in the “era of data leakage.”
Raising the issue during zero hour, Mr. Venugopal said Mr. Sharma’s act resulted in the disclosure of several details that should be confidential, like his bank account numbers and frequent flier number.
“The government should take action to secure privacy and safety of all data,” he added.
(With inputs from Nistula Hebbar)