UIDAI extends the deadline to deploy Virtual ID system to July 1

UIDAI has extended by one month to July 1 the deadline for service providers and agencies like banks and telecom companies to fully deploy Virtual ID system and accept these IDs in lieu of Aadhaar number.

The Virtual ID (VID) feature is aimed at giving users the option of not sharing their Aadhaar number at the time of authentication.

UIDAI - which had earlier said it will be compulsory for all agencies that undertake authentication to accept VID from their users from June 1, 2018 - has decided to give one more month after the user agencies said they needed more time to switch to the new system.

"We are ready but the agencies wanted some more time to switch to the VID system. We have, therefore, given one more month till July 1," UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey told PTI.

The extension was given considering the "difficulty and amount of internal work" involved for the agencies including telcos, banks, state governments, among others, he added.

Aadhaar database can be misused and abused: Edward Snowden

A day after the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) denied that there was any breach of the Aadhaar database, American whistleblower Edward Snowden said on Friday that the Aadhaar database conceived and introduced by the Indian government can also be misused and abused.

Retweeting CBS journalist Zack Whittaker's response on a BuzzFeed report on the breach of Aadhaar database in India, Snowden said, "It is the natural tendency of government to desire perfect records of private lives. History shows that no matter the laws, the result is abuse."

Whittaker had earlier said, "ICYMI. India has a national ID database with the private information of nearly 1.2 billion nationals. It's reportedly been breached. Admin accounts can be made and access can be sold to the database, reports BuzzFeed."

The UIDAI on Thursday said the Aadhaar data including biometric information is fully safe and secure.

It termed The Tribune report titled 'Rs 500, 10 minutes, and you have access to billion Aadhaar details' a case of misreporting.

"There has not been any Aadhaar data breach. The Aadhaar data including biometric information is fully safe and secure," the UIDAI said in a statement.

This development has come at a time when the Supreme Court is set to begin the final hearing of petitions challenging the legality of Aadhaar programme based on privacy concerns on January 17.

In August 2017, the Supreme Court held that privacy is a fundamental right under the Constitution of India.