The grave breach of privacy came to light on Thursday and even people without Aadhar cards and different phone networks have found this number pre-saved in their phonebooks.
Friday morning was a tense one for Indians as they found out that the Aadhar toll-free number crept into their phones without their knowledge. Many dialled 1947 to find a toll-free number stored in their phonebooks under the name UIDAI in their contact list.
On Thursday, an anonymous digital vigilante who calls themselves a French security expert, Elliot Alderson, asked UIDAI on Twitter: “Many people, with different providers, with and without an #Aadhaar card, with and without the mAadhaar app installed, noticed that your phone number is predefined in their contact list by default without their knowledge. Can you explain why?”
Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) changed its original helpline number 1800-300-1947 to 1947, which got into people’s phonebooks without their consent. While public service numbers are automatically saved in smartphones, with regards to city helplines for police and emergencies, many found it suspicious that this particular number had sneaked in.
“UIDAI has not asked or communicated to any manufacturer or service provider for providing any such facility whatsoever. It is emphasised that the said 18003001947 is not a valid UIDAI Toll-free number and some vested interest are trying to create unwarranted confusion in the public. UIDAI has reiterated that it has not asked or advised anyone including any telecom service providers or mobile manufacturers or Android to include 18003001947 or 1947 in the default list of public service numbers,” the official Twitter handle of Aadhaar stated.
A Reliance Jio representative said they were immediately not aware of any such number being saved on their network and Bharti Airtel, India’s largest network operators haven’t responded on the same.
If the UIDAI did not ask the operators to pre-add this number in their users’ phone, who is behind this grave breach of privacy? Even people who don’t have Aadhar cards found this number added to their phonebooks. Is it a new ploy before 2019 elections to show people how unsafe EVMs are or is it the sign of a surveillance state in the offing?