Tribune journalist deserves an award, not investigation: Edward Snowden
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has registered an FIR against The Tribune and journalist Rachna Khaira for their January 3rd report claiming a breach in Aadhaar data.
Noted whistle-blower and former consultant with US National Security Agency, Edward Snowden, has extended support to the journalists who broke a story on security breach in Aadhaar cards.
Edward Snowden tweeted in support of the journalists of The Tribune, who exposed the breach, saying they ' deserve an award, not an investigation'. "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," he said.
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
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has registered an FIR against The Tribune and journalist Rachna Khaira for their January 3rd report claiming a breach in Aadhaar data. The Tribune report had claimed that it took just Rs 500 and 10 minutes for the newspaper to get an access through an "agent" to every detail of an individual submitted to the UIDAI, including name, address, postal code (PIN), photo, phone number and email.
The Delhi Police has registered an FIR on a UIDAI official's complaint about the report in the Tribune newspaper. The FIR mentions the names of the journalist and the people the reporter reached out to purchase the Aadhaar data, but they have not been shown as accused.
The Confederation of Newspaper and News Agency Employees' Organisations, in a statement, condemned the Unique (UIDAI, saying it should highlight errors in the report, if any, instead of taking penal action.
(With agency inputs)