A debate concerned with the security threat to the personal information of an individual due to Aadhaar has been going on for quite a long time.
The Aadhaar supporters are vouching that data of an individual has no threat while the opposition is hell bent on proving it a failure and a threat to the sensitive information of a person.
Recently, TRAI chairman RS Sharma shared his Aadhaar number on Twitter and gave an open challenge to steal his personal information.
French security expert Elliot Alderson also entered this debate and yesterday he took to Twitter to ask users whether their phones have UIDAI toll-free helpline number in their contact list.
Do you have @UIDAI in your contact list by default?
— Baptiste Robert (@fs0c131y) August 2, 2018
As people started checking their phones, most of them got the rude shock of their lives as their phones had UIDAI toll-free helpline number in their contact list and they never added it themselves.
This made people angry:
https://twitter.com/Varunkukreti/status/1025287335355838464
Wtf is this? This automatically got added to my phone book without my consent / prior intimation. Checked after seeing some updates by others on twitter. Anyone has answers for this? This is scary. 😕 #Aadhaar #UIDAI pic.twitter.com/0gVRWTyobd
— Siddharth Agarwal (@sidagarwal) August 3, 2018
Yes. How come? I did not make this contact.
— Sameer Kochhar (@SkochSameer) August 2, 2018
This man is concerned:
Is this scary? Having a contact saved in my phone without my permission? https://t.co/s8aQGRYvKR
— Nikunj Barnwal 🏹 (@niks2409) August 2, 2018
This guy has the answer:
UIDAI is in the phone contact list because mobile service provider is passing this helpline number with sim.
— Kapil (@kapsology) August 2, 2018
This may be the reason:
all the new phones purchased have emergency numbers saved by default and now UIDAI number also is added to the list..
— Sachin Gurjar (@sachideal) August 2, 2018
Can anyone explain?
https://twitter.com/sanguine01chan/status/1024952978631876608
Not in iPhones:
This is super creepy… I have a @UIDAI contact in my list with the number 1800-300-1947 by default. Dialed the number, it is invalid.
Interestingly, it is not there in any iPhones I've seen. Any comment from the govt on how this happened? @DoT_India @airtelindia @reliancejio https://t.co/gwXv4ErcKO— Leroy Leo D'Souza (@LeroyLeo7) August 2, 2018
Whatever happens, this guy knows what he wants:
https://twitter.com/WhatMenBugger/status/1024947449209614337
Have you checked your mobile phone’s contact list?