Snowden blames Aadhaar for destroying privacy of Indians

Edward Snowden has weighed in on the privacy implications of the Aadhaar program and its biometric database ahead of court hearings into its legality, which are slated to begin on January 17. Snowden tweeted support for Rachna Khaira, the Tribune journalist under investigation after reporting that a massive database of personal information from the Aadhaar program was being sold over the internet for roughly $8.

The journalists exposing the #Aadhaar breach deserve an award, not an investigation. If the government were truly concerned for justice, they would be reforming the policies that destroyed the privacy of a billion Indians. Want to arrest those responsible? They are called @UIDAI. https://t.co/xyewbK2WO2

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) January 8, 2018

Snowden previously tweeted about Aadhaar on January 5, saying “It is the natural tendency of government to desire perfect records of private lives. History shows that no matter the laws, the result is abuse.”

Shortly before Snowden’s tweet on Monday, the UIDAI and India Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad tweeted support for the freedom of the press and Khaira, who has been investigated by police after the publication of her initial findings about breached Aadhaar data.

Khaira told NDTV that the information published so far about the breach is “the tip of the iceberg.”

“We have almost completed our entire investigation. It’s better that the UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India) understands the legality and the sensitivity that is involved in this kind of investigation. We have got much more that what we have exposed so far and which we are going to bring up in the next few days to come,” Khaira said.

Article Topics

Aadhaar  |  biometric database  |  biometrics  |  India  |  privacy  |  UIDAI