How #Aadhaar architect Nilekani leaked his own data

While we are hemming and hawing about Aadhaar-related breach of privacy, one public personality it seems has voluntarily – or unwittingly – exposed himself to data theft.

A report by Buzzfeed News pointed out on Thursday that the personal information of Nandan Nilekani, sweet irony that he is the man behind the Aadhaar biometric identity programme, is still available online after he himself tweeted out a picture of his Aadhaar card for public consumption in 2014.

The report said that “he blacked out the first eight digits of his 12-digit Aadhaar number, but did not obscure the QR code containing his personal demographic details that could be read by any freely available iOS or Android app used for scanning QR codes”.

His personal details, not surprisingly, are still available on various websites on the internet though the tweet was deleted in September 2016, when the Aadhaar Act making the publishing of the identity number publicly a criminal offence, was passed.
BuzzFeed News also revealed that it could know the name of Nilekani’s bank by using a publicly available and UIDAI-provided service that lets anyone key in an Aadhaar number on a mobile phone to see the bank accounts it is linked to. The UIDAI was headed by Nilekani from 2009 to 2014.

All this while the nation is biting its nails worrying over identity theft, what with reports of Aadhaar-related data leaks coming to the fore regularly.

The government has been pushing the citizens to link their Aadhaar numbers to bank accounts, mobile numbers as well as other essential services.

The article pointed out, citing media reports, how in October 2017 a group of people was arrested for using leaked Aadhaar numbers of 300 pensioners to open bank accounts in their names and swindle tens of lakhs of rupees over two years. Recently, a report by The Tribune said Aadhaar data was being sold on WhatsApp for Rs 500. In the past few years, accidental or deliberate leakage of Aadhaar data has been reported often.

Nikhil Pahwa, member of Internet Freedom Foundation, was quoted as saying: “While Mr Nilekani may not personally face issues because of this foolishness, spare a thought for the common people whose Aadhaar details have been leaked.”