Kalinga TV News Network
New Delhi: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Sunday clarified that the Aadhaar helpline number, saved automatically in the contact lists of mobile users, cannot steal data from mobile phones and that people need not panic about it. The UIDAI further stated that gossip mongers have been falsely spreading baseless rumours regarding data security following an erroneous blunder by Internet major Google which led to the appearance of UIDAI’s old helpline number 18003001947 in the contact list of mobile users.
The panic over UIDAI’s number popping up in the contact lists of many mobile users was triggered last week when a French Security expert named Elliot Anderson had tweeted-
“Hi @UIDAI, Many people, with different provider, with or without an #Aadhaar card, with and without the mAadhaar app installed, noticed that your phone number is predefined in their contact list by default and so without their knowledge. Can you explain why?”
This had scared many mobile users who found UIDAI’s contact number in their phones even though they did not add it personally.
The UIDAI has condemned the matter and slammed those who have tried to malign its image. On the other hand, Google too admitted that it had unwittingly added Aadhaar’s old helpline number along with police and fire number (100 and 112) in 2014, which has been continuing since then by virtue of sync mechanism.
The UIDAI also clarified that it had not asked Google or any other company to add its helpline number in the contact list of mobile users and emphasised that personal data of a user cannot be stolen by the mere addition of a mobile number.
Kalinga AI