Aadhaar data isn't safe, say denizens

Hyderabad: Hyderabadis feel that their data privacy through Aadhaar is inadequate, if ones goes by the re-sponses at the Hyderabad Fest -2018.

The fest which is being organised by Spoorthi Progressive Society for the first time this summer at NTR Stadium from April 13- 22. It features a stalls on science, arts and literature.

Since data privacy has been the focus of many debates recently, an NGO Swecha has decided to ask Hyderabadis as how safe do they think their personal data stored in the Aadhaar servers is.

To elicit the opinion of the visitors, they have set up a chart with two options —one with yes and another with no. The visitors will have to sign under whichever option they chose to agree with.

Surprisingly, the option “I don’t feel that my personal information in Aadhaar is safe” got tremendous support, suggesting that people don’t seem to trust that their data is safe with Aadhaar.

Some of the prominent personalities like producer Tamma Reddy Bharadwaja, script writers Parchuri brothers, singer R.P. Patnaik, lyricist Ashok Teja Suddala, who were guests at the Hyderabad fest, also held that their data has been compromised.

A visitor N. Ram Babu also left by saying that Aadhaar is not good because it makes us lose our privacy and our personal data gets shared.

Apart from the reservations on data theft by third party, there are also other deeper fears, including the nature of data itself, especially the biometric data which cannot be changed.

Sai Ram, who is a web-developer, said: “It is not just the Aadhaar number because even my fingerprints are vulnerable. In Japan, finger print is being used to withdraw money from ATMs. Only in our country, finger prints are being collected by the government in the name of Aadhaar. With such advancing technologies, we certainly need better privacy.”

On the other hand, some people believe that when you have nothing to hide, it is acceptable to share the data. “It is okay to compromise the data and give details,” a visitor said.

“This is a welcome change that people understand that their privacy is being compromised. Data is in the central repository of Aadhaar. But the database has its own mirrors. Almost every transaction is tracked and more than 90 per cent of personal data is compromised,”  Ranjit Raj of Swecha, a research scholar at IIIT-H, said.