BJP govt hand-in-glove with tech giants, turning Aadhaar into surveillance tool, says Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan

Mumbai: Former Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Saturday accused the BJP government of working hand-in-glove with global tech giants and turning Aadhaar into a surveillance tool. The senior Congress leader also alleged that in 2016, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) had asked global tech companies to embed Aadhaar encryption into their technology. [caption id=“attachment_4893011” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of former Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan. Sachin Gokhale/Firstpost[/caption] “The BJP government, working in cahoots with global tech giants, and turning Aadhaar into a surveillance tool. The government must come clean,” Chavan said in a tweet. “Under what authority UIDAI directed tech companies to embed Aadhaar encryption? If not, what penal action will the government/TRAI take against Google?,” he asked. Late last evening, the Cyber Security Cell of the Maharashtra Police issued an advisory saying that if any number in the name of UIDAI was automatically added to the mobile phone contacts, it should be deleted. Amid public outrage over the Aadhaar helpline number being pre-stored without user consent on certain mobile phones, Google apologised last night for ‘inadvertently’ loading the old UIDAI helpline number and 112 helpline number into the ‘setup wizard’ of Android phones. The clarification came following reports that many Android-run mobile phones listed by default the Aadhaar helpline number 1800-300-1947.