Caution First: The Hindu Editorial on Aadhaar Sharing and Advice on Withdrawing It

There was a strange reversal on Sunday Central government withdrew notification Two days after the advisory was issued, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) office cautioned people against sharing photocopies of their Aadhar cards, claiming it would have “misinterpretation”. A May 27 notification issued by UIDAI’s Bengaluru regional office urged people to use the masked Aadhaar number facility – which can be downloaded from the UIDAI website – and which displays only the last four digits of the Aadhaar number. It was sensible advice. The masked Aadhaar facility has been in place since 2018 and it comes after a report by the Center for Internet and Society that publicly available datasets contained sensitive details such as complete Aadhaar number details and bank account details of individuals. The dangers of providing complete Aadhaar numbers to multiple agencies – the use of Aadhaar cards and numbers for various purposes today have only increased exponentially – the way these numbers have been used by fraudsters for criminal purposes such as identity theft, is clear from. Know Your Customer (KYC) – frauds among others in recent years, and which have been documented in news reports. UIDAI has reported more potential fraud cases related to the issue highlighted above in recent years than in previous years. Other scams that are of a higher standard, more recently related to biometrics theft, have allowed scammers to steal welfare benefits at the expense of actual beneficiaries. The Internet is full of leaked data and it poses a major threat to user privacy.

However, UIDAI has been vague about the dangers inherent in indiscriminate use of Aadhaar numbers or Aadhaar cards by citizens, as evidenced in a series of flip-flops on the issue even before this latest withdrawal notice. There seems to be a conflict of views within the authority on the issue of possible misuse of Aadhaar numbers. On the one hand, in statements advising caution and user discretion in disclosing one’s Aadhaar number, it is seeking to treat the same as sensitive information like biometrics provided by citizens to the authority. Yet, on the other hand, it has sought to universalize the open use of Aadhaar as an identity document with missionary fervor and underestimated the risks of doing so. This dilemma doesn’t help at all. UIDAI should popularize the use of masked Aadhaar facility as a start and reconsider ways to strengthen investigations into how Aadhaar numbers are issued and used, while law enforcement agencies Crack down on data leaks and websites carrying Aadhaar-related information.