The director of the Unique Identification Authority of India on Wednesday said it had blacklisted the agency that had erroneously leaked former Indian cricket team captain MS Dhoni’s Aadhaar details, for 10 years, PTI reported. Ajay Bhushan Pandey said an investigation had been launched into the matter.
On Tuesday, Dhoni’s wife Sakshi had brought the breach to Information and Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad’s notice on Twitter after e-governance firm Common Services Center shared the cricketer’s personal Aadhaar details on the social media platform.
The CSC had posted a tweet, which read, “Ace Cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his family get their Aadhaar updated at VLE Mariya Farooqui’s CSE at Ranchi, Jharkhand”, according to NDTV. Prasad was tagged in the tweet, which included a photograph of the cricketer with a CSC representative and another of Dhoni’s personal details on the Aadhaar website. The tweet was later deleted.
Sakshi Dhoni had brought the violation to the Union minister’s notice after he shared an image of MS Dhoni signing up for an Aadhaar card. “Is there any privacy left? Information of Adhaar card, including application, is made public property,” she had said. The minister, unaware of the agency’s actions, in response had said, “No it is not a public property. Does this Tweet divulge any personal information?” After she explained the matter to him, Prasad assured her of “serious action”.
While its original tweet was deleted, CSC later posted the same image of MS Dhoni on Twitter, saying, “Former India cricket captain MD Dhoni updated his Aadhaar details with a home visit by a CSC VLE. A fan moment for Ahsan Ali.”
Claims of security breaches in Aadhaar and misuse of biometrics data have been in the news of late. In February end, the UIDAI had suspended Axis Bank’s authentication services after allegations of biometrics data being saved illegally. According to government data, the UIDAI has issued 112 crore Aadhar numbers so far and has maintained that its biometrics database was tamper-proof.
Corrections and clarifications: An earlier version of the story erroneously stated that Ravi Shankar Prasad is the Telecom Minister. Prasad was relieved of the telecom portfolio in July 2016.
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