Lok Sabha Question No. 471 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-11-20
Subject: Linking of Aadhaar with Social Media
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: S. Jothimani

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 471

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 20.11.2019

## LINKING OF AADHAAR WITH SOCIAL MEDIA

## 471.   SHRIMATI S. JOTHIMANI:

Will the Minister of Electronics & Information Technology be pleased to state:-

- (a) whether  the  Government  proposes  to  enact  a  law  for  linking  Aadhaar  with  social media accounts of individuals and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
- (b) whether  the  Government  has  ordered  the  removal  of  objectionable  online  content posted on social media and if so, the details thereof and the details of topics included therein; and
- (c) The steps being taken by the Government to address the privacy concerns about the biometric data stored by UIDAI and leakages of personal information?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

- (a):    No, Sir. There is no such proposal with Government for linking Aadhaar with social media accounts of individuals.
- (b):  Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 empowers Government to block any information generated, transmitted, received, stored or hosted in any computer resource : (i) in the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, (ii) defence of India, (iii) security of the State, (iv) friendly relations with foreign states,  (v) public order or (vi) for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence relating to above. Year-wise detail of no. of URLs blocked on social media platforms are as follows :

| Year                           |   No. of URLs ordered for blocking |
|--------------------------------|------------------------------------|
| 2016                           |                                633 |
| 2017                           |                               1385 |
| 2018                           |                               2799 |
| 2019 (till 31 st October 2019) |                               3433 |

The order for blocking is issued for the topics mentioned above.

- (c):  Aadhaar is based on three core principles of minimal information, optimal ignorance and federated database. In its whole lifecycle an Aadhaar database contains only the information that the resident provides at the time of enrolment or updation. The database contains name, address,

gender, date of birth/age, photograph and core biometrics (10 fingerprints and 2 iris scans) of the  enrolled  resident.    The  database  may  also  have  mobile  and  email,  if  provided  by  the resident, during enrolment or updation. As a matter of policy and by design, UIDAI precludes itself  from aggregating information arising from the use of Aadhaar, tracking and profiling individuals, and the system by intent, is blind to the purpose for which Aadhaar may be used at  the  front  end  by  the  resident.  Also,  the  core  biometrics  is  encrypted  at  the  time  of enrolment/Updation. It is never kept unencrypted and is never shared.

For security of Aadhaar data, UIDAI has a well-designed, multi-layer robust security system in place and the same is being constantly upgraded to maintain highest level of data security and  integrity.  The  architecture  of  Aadhaar  ecosystem  has  been  designed  to  ensure  data security and privacy which is an integral part of the system from the initial design to the final stage.

Various policies and procedures have been defined and are reviewed and updated continually thereby appropriately controlling and monitoring any movement of people, material and data in  and  out  of  UIDAI  premises,  particularly  the  data  centres.  UIDAI  data  is  fully  secured/ encrypted  at  all  times  i.e.  at  rest,  in  transit  and  in  storage.    For  further  strengthening  of security  and  privacy  of  data,  security  audits  are  conducted  on  regular  basis.  The  security assurance  of  Aadhaar  ecosystem  has  been  strengthened  with  enactment  of  the  Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 and subsequently  the  Aadhaar  and  Other  Laws  (Amendment)  Act,  2019  which  has  stringent penalties/punishments for offenders.

UIDAI  has  been  declared  ISO  27001:2013  certified  with  respect  to  information  security which has added another layer of IT security assurance.  The core infrastructure of Aadhaar has been notified as protected system under the provisions of section 70 of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

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