R.S. Sharma, the outgoing Chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), on Saturday made his Aadhaar number public in an open challenge to users to “do any harm to me.”
Mr Sharma, who has previously worked with with UIDAI or Unique Identification Authority of India, is a known defender of Aadhaar and has held that the unique ID does not violate privacy.
“My Aadhaar number is 762177682740. Now I give this challenge to you: Show me one concrete example where you can do any harm to me!” he tweeted.
In a series of tweets, Mr Sharma has said the motive behind his move was to debunk allegations that Aadhaar compromises the privacy of a person.
Soon after his tweets, many Twitter users posted his personal details, including the number of his mobile phone and his alternate number, his Whatsapp profile pictures, voter's id, Pan number and address.
French security researcher Elliot Alderson too tweeted, "People managed to get your personal address, dob and your alternate phone number. I stop here, I hope you will understand why make your #Aadhaar number public is not a good idea"
Mr Sharma, however, said having these details in the public domain do not cause him any harm.
Back and forth
When Mr Alderson tweeted that no bank account was linked to the Mr Sharma’s Aadhaar number, Mr Sharma tweeted back saying, “Looks like you are not as good as you claim to be! All my bank accounts are linked to Aadhaar. Further, even if you know my bank account number, so what!”
After a user said the date of birth and name were linked to banks, the TRAI chief Chairman said, “...the purpose of this is to debunk the theory that Aadhaar compromises the privacy of the person.”
