Edward Snowden says demand to link Aadhaar to services must be criminalised

Former NSA contractor and exiled whistle-blower Edward Snowden has termed Aadhaar as “an improper gate to service” and has asked for the criminalisation of demands by the private and public organisations which ask for Aadhaar to ascertain the identity.

Snowden in tweet on Sunday, referring to an opinion piece written by former Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) chief KC Verma, said, “Rarely do former intel chiefs and I agree, but the head of India's RAW writes #Aadhaar is being abused by banks, telcos, and transport not to police entitlements, but as a proxy for identity–an improper gate to service. Such demands must be criminalised.”

Rarely do former intel chiefs and I agree, but the head of India's RAW writes #Aadhaar is being abused by banks, telcos, and transport not to police entitlements, but as a proxy for identity–an improper gate to service. Such demands must be criminalized. https://t.co/rRSn42XLlQ

Story continues below Advertisement

Remove Ad

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) January 21, 2018

He also expressed his fears that non-government companies have databases which can store personal data along with the Aadhaar details in another tweet.

Referring to UIDAI’s tweet that said that Aadhaar database did not keep any financial and personal data and acted just as an identifier, not a profiling tool, Snowden said, “That might be true if banks, landlords, hospitals, schools, telephone & internet companies were prohibited by law from asking for your #Aadhaar number. But any Indian can tell you they're asked for their number by non-government entities––and those companies have databases too.” 

That might be true if banks, landlords, hospitals, schools, telephone & internet companies were prohibited by law from asking for your #Aadhaar number. But any Indian can tell you they're asked for their number by non-government entities––and those companies have databases too. https://t.co/WsKC9wR6sj

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) January 21, 2018

This is not the first time Snowden has expressed his disdain for Aadhaar. In the past as well he has criticised its scale of use on multiple occasions.

He had also advocated for a prize for The Tribune journalist who exposed the Aadhaar data breach earlier this month.