UIDAI rebuts scare-mongering against Aadhaar, says helpline number cannot steal data

NEW DELHI: The UIDAI on Sunday said vested interests used Google's "inadvertent" act on its helpline number to create fear about Aadhaar while emphasising that a number stored in the contact list of a mobile phone cannot steal data.

In a series of tweets, the authority asked the users to not panic and delete the old helpline from their phones and update it with the new number - 1947.

"It must be clearly understood that no harm can be caused by merely having a helpline number that, too, an outdated one," UIDAI said.

Assuring users that their Aadhaar data remains fully safe, UIDAI said, "Rumours about Aadhaar database being breached are completely false and baseless and are rejected with all the condemnation that they deserve."

The UIDAI further advised people to stay away from such rumours and malicious campaign by "vested interests".

"They should not waste their time by forwarding or circulating such false and baseless rumours on WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook etc," it said.



On Friday, thousands of smartphone users in India woke up puzzled with a Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) toll-free helpline number saved in their phone books by default.

Following reports, the authority refuted allegations saying it has not asked any phone maker or telecom service provider to include its toll-free number on mobile phones as it tried to assuage user concerns relating to the invasion of privacy.

Telecom operators' body COAI (Cellular Operators Association of India) too said none of its members had pre-loaded any unknown numbers on any mobile phone.

Later that day, Google apologised for "inadvertently" loading the old UIDAI helpline number and 112 helpline number into the 'setup wizard' of Android phones.

"Our internal review has revealed that in 2014, the then UIDAI helpline number and the 112 distress helpline number were inadvertently coded into the setup wizard of the Android release given to OEMs (Original equipment manufacturers) for use in India and has remained there since."

"Since the numbers get listed on a user's contact list these get transferred accordingly to the contacts on any new device," a Google spokesperson said in a statement.

Google apologised for the same and said the numbers can be manually deleted from the phones. It also promised to fix the same in future editions of its setup wizard.

"We expect that Google will look into the issue which has caused confusion in the minds of people against India’s credible identity system and exercise due care so that such things are not repeated in future," UIDAI said today.

(With inputs from agencies)