In news that matters, TRAI chief, R S Sharma, recently dared Twitter and posted his Aadhaar number. He challenged ‘critics’ to do him harm by misusing his Aadhaar details.
The telecom head is a strong defender of Aadhaar and wanted to prove that the unique identity does not violate privacy.
RS Sharma claimed in an interview with The Print that sharing Aadhaar number will not lead to a violation of privacy.
Tell me what harm can you do to me if you have my Aadhaar details? I will give you my Aadhaar number if you like
In response to his claim, a Twitter user asked him to actually share his Aadhaar details.
Walk your talk @rssharma3! Publish your Aadhaar details to the public if you have so much trust in this 13ft wall secured system.https://t.co/oZevZyqosN
— @kingslyj (@kingslyj) July 28, 2018
Not only did Sharma respond with his Aadhaar number, he further dared the user to ‘do him any harm’ with the information.
Shortly after he made the claim, Twitter users shared the phone number, email address, PAN, and other personal details of the TRAI Chief.
PAN number pic.twitter.com/yKwtT7QuCh
— Elliot Alderson (@fs0c131y) July 28, 2018
I supposed this is your wife or daughter next to you pic.twitter.com/UPSru1PGUT
— Elliot Alderson (@fs0c131y) July 28, 2018
A Twitter user compiled all these details and shared them, stating, ” I’m not against #Aadhaar. I’m only against people who think that #Aadhaar is unhackable.”
I probably need to say it again: I’m not against #Aadhaar. I’m only against people who think that #Aadhaar is unhackable
— Elliot Alderson (@fs0c131y) July 28, 2018
If you disagree with this tweet, you probably don’t know what #privacy is…and this ok. Please, try to learn more about privacy and after that I will happy to debate with you to know if #Aadhaar is a privacy nightmare or not https://t.co/7E4nqZ5yfY
— Elliot Alderson (@fs0c131y) July 28, 2018
Despite the ‘leaked information’, RS Sharma stuck to his stand that no harm had been caused.
In fact, that TRAI chief engaged with multiple users, and defended his stance that Aadhaar does not lead to privacy violation and that any information shared was either incorrect or already available on the public domain.
Dear Vijaya,I am not trying to prove anything. I am just saying that by knowing my Aadhaar number, which by the way, is a random 12 digit number, you cannot cause any harm to me. Please understand that I am merely trying to dis-abuse the mis-information around Aadhaar.
— RS Sharma (@rssharma3) July 28, 2018
The netizens were divided at this exchange. While some agreed with him, others clearly believed that Aadhaar database system needed better privacy measures.
AADHAR is safe as much as living in a house whose roof is not going to fallAll debate on AADHAR is rubbish and done only by those who want to hide something
— #GauravPradhan 🇮🇳 (@DrGPradhan) July 28, 2018
I’m a lawyer. He’s right though. Not just his cell, his PAN, email and other information about him could be obtained. It’s not such a terrible loss of privacy, but it still is one. So my suggestion is you chill till the SC decides and then brazenly defend if.
— Pranav Govind (@pranavngovind) July 28, 2018
Such a big hacker and all he could manage in 5 hours is a phone number which is already a public record (he’s a government official)? The man gave his aadhar number and challenged everyone to bring something concrete which could harm him, not something which is public record. 😂
— Saket Singh (@TheWhatsappGuy) July 28, 2018
Whether easily accessible or not, it does appear that there is little that ample time and strong wi-fi cannot achieve.