New Delhi: In the ongoing battle between the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and the newspaper that broke the news about the easy access gained to the Aadhaar data, former US intelligence contractor and American whistle-blower Edward Snowden has once again chimed in with his views on the matter.
After the UIDAI filed an FIR against the Tribune and journalist Rachna Khaira for exposing the holes in the Aadhaar data security, Snowden tweeted, “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.”
Snowden had tweeted earlier, hinting that although it is every government’s tendency to want to record “private lives”, such programmes have always resulted in “abuse.”
The UIDAI’s case against the journalist provoked backlash from the public, forcing IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to ask the UIDAI to clarify that the case had not been filed against any individual in particular.
Minister Prasad tweeted, “Govt. is fully committed to Freedom of Press as well as to maintaining security & sanctity of #Aadhaar for India’s development. FIR is against unknown. I’ve suggested @UIDAI to request Tribune & it’s journalist to give all assistance to police in investigating real offenders”, the minister posted.
Edward Snowden was a contractor working with the United States’ National Security Agency, where he came across classified information that he leaked to the newspapers, as he was concerned about the massive surveillance programme being run by the agency without the knowledge of the American public.
These disclosures sparked a worldwide discussion and concern about privacy, some of what can be seen in the Indian scenario with regard to the Aadhaar programme which is currently being challenged in the country’s apex court.
