'Journalists exposing Aadhaar breach deserve award, not investigation'
January 09, 2018  08:59
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The recent investigative report on access to Aadhaar data being sold via social media needs to be rewarded and penalised, believes Edward Snowden, someone who has experience in being targeted by a government over a data leak.

Snowden, who famously leaked classified information that exposed a massive surveillance operation run by an American spy agency, today tweeted in support of the reporter behind the Aadhaar data breach story.

He wrote on Twitter, "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 also suggested that those who really need to be arrested are the authorities at the Unique Identification Authority of India, the body that runs the Aadhaar programme.

Snowden's comments, which came in an early-morning tweet, came against the backdrop of a Chandigarh-based daily publishing an investigative report alleging its reporter was able to purchase access to Aadhaar data from sellers over messaging application WhatsApp.

Following the publication of the report, the UIDAI, which denied 'data breach' had taken place, filed a First Information Report with the Delhi Police naming not just the people mentioned in the Aadhaar-data-for-sale story but also the reporter - Rachna Khaira - as well as the daily - The Tribune.

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