New Delhi: Not a week has passed when Attorney General KK Venugopal reportedly had said that ‘Aadhaar data has been secured behind a complex with five feet thick and 13 feet tall walls’ to assure data security. Now the Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology K J Alphons has drawn a bizarre parallel, saying we have no problem when we are asked to get naked for a visa but have issues when the government asks for details.
“We have no problem while filling up 10 pages of data for getting the American visa. We have absolutely no problem going and putting up our fingerprint and getting the whole body naked before the white man at all. But when the government of India asks for your name and address, there is a massive revolution in the country saying that it is an intrusion into the privacy,” Alphons said on Friday while addressing a valedictory function of the #Future digital summit in Kochi.
“You think Prime Minister is going to give your data to a private company! Don’t believe such fake stories,” Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology added.
Earlier in the week, a technology news portal had quoted a security researcher’s claim to state that a system of state-owned utility firm was allegedly leaking information on Aadhaar holders. The French researcher had posted on Twitter: “Hi @UIDAI and @ceo_uidai, let me show you one of the “unscrupulous elements”. This governmental website is leaking 4769 files. In this open directory, you can find biometric data, #Aadhaar card scans and more.”
The report of the alleged security breach has surfaced when the Supreme Court is already hearing a number of petitions challenging the Aadhaar Act and the use of the biometric identifier in various government and non-government services.