The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) may have got powers to act against and penalise Aadhaar violations, but in a shocking instance, the image of a six-year-old's Aadhaar Card was uploaded on e-commerce site Amazon India for selling lamination pouches. The Aadhaar Card of the child had sensitive details such as the child's date of birth, address, father’s name and other personal details, a report claimed on Friday.
According to a report by News18 Tech, a photograph of a valid Aadhaar Card of a child was uploaded by a seller who goes by the name “MY OFFICE STATIONERY” on Amazon.in. The publication could verify that the Aadhaar Card number uploaded on Amazon India was a valid Aadhaar Card number. The image posted by the seller on Amazon.in was, however, not available at the time of filing this story. It is likely that the e-commerce site has taken it down.
Aadhaar has been under scrutiny over privacy concerns for a long period. There have been concerns about the issues related to the right to privacy especially after it was inducted as a fundamental right in 2018. Recently, the UIDAI noted that Aadhaar Card should not be uploaded to public platforms such as Facebook, and Twitter among others.
Meanwhile, earlier in July, the UIDAI had also announced a Bug Bounty programme to identify vulnerabilities in Aadhaar’s data security system. In a circular, the UIDAI called for the empanelment of 20 top hackers to identify any vulnerabilities in its Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR).
Aadhaar is a 12-digit number that connects an individual's biometric data to create a unique identity. A person's bank account, phone number, government programmes, and other financial services are all connected to their Aadhaar number.