Censorship
Reform Aadhaar and not arrest journalists: Edward Snowden tells Modi
Whistleblower Edward Snowden has come out in support of the journalist who has exposed the Aadhaar data breach.
“The journalists exposing the #Aadhaar breach deserve an award, not an investigation,” Snowden tweeted.
He went a step further and advised the Modi government to reform Aadhaar policy itself which, he said, has compromised privacy of billions of people.
The journalists exposing the #Aadhaar breach deserve an award, not an investigation. If the government were truly concerned for justice, they would be reforming the policies that destroyed the privacy of a billion Indians. Want to arrest those responsible? They are called @UIDAI. https://t.co/xyewbK2WO2
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) January 8, 2018
ASLO READ: Forget Aadhaar, even your voter details are vulnerable to abuse, kept public by the government
Earlier, the American whistleblower Edward Snowden today had hinted that Aadhar can be misused and abused by the Indian Government. Snowden had retweeted CBS journalist Zack Whittaker’s response to a BuzzFeed report on the breach of Aadhaar database in India.
He said, “It is the natural tendency of government to desire perfect records of private lives. History shows that no matter the laws, the result is abuse.”
His tweet came a day after the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) said there was no breach in the Aadhaar database.
The government maintained that biometric data was safe. The breach came to light following a report in The Tribune that claimed an “agent” available on WhatsApp facilitated access by a login ID and password to the particulars of any Aadhaar number.
The agent, the report claimed, was paid Rs 500 through Paytm. Particulars such as name, address, postal code, photo, phone number and email were accessed and the Aadhaar card printed, the report said.
The government, in a classic case of shoot the messenger, booked the reporter saying: “The above-mentioned persons have unauthorisedly accessed the Aadhaar ecosystem in connivance of the criminal conspiracy…”