Found the UIDAI number in your contact list? Google knows why it happened

TECHNOLOGY | August 4, 2018: 

For last few days, the whole issue on who put the Aadhaar helpline number in your contact list, came to a relief late Friday night when Google, the Android operating system provider accepted that it had done it.

Finally putting the controversy of UIDAI contact showing up seemingly randomly in people's phones at rest, Google confirmed that the issue didn't result from any directive by any authority in India but due to a software issue in Android.

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The controversy under which UIDAI's now-decommissioned toll-free number was spotted by many mobile phone users in the country can be traced back to 2014, Google said, when the then UIDAI number and the 112 distress helpline number were "inadvertently coded" within the Android setup wizard and has remained on devices, the company confirmed to Gadgets 360 via an emailed statement late on Friday.

The company in a statement apologising said that an internal review has revealed that in 2014, the then UIDAI helpline number and the 112 distress helpline number were inadvertently coded into the SetUp wizard of the Android release given to OEMs for use in India and has remained there since.

"Since the numbers get listed on a user's contact list these get transferred accordingly to the contacts on any new device," Google said in a statement.

"We are sorry for any concern that this might have caused, and would like to assure everyone that this is not a situation of an unauthorised access of their Android devices. Users can manually delete the number from their devices."

The company said it will work towards fixing this in an upcoming release of SetUp wizard which will be made available to OEMs over the next few weeks.

The controversy arose after a large number of mobile phone users on social media reported the sudden placement of a contact featuring the old helpline number of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

UIDAI refuted media reports in a series of tweets earlier on Friday, It was on Thursday, when an ethical hacker Elliot Alderson on Twitter and asked: "Do you have @UIDAI in your contact list by default?" There was a flood of retweets and questions raised by many on how it can be possible and blamed the UIDAI, Android and the phone makers.

UIDAI had clarified that they were not responsible for the number appearing in users contact list. The Authority said that it has 'not asked or communicated to any manufacturer or service provider for providing any such facility whatsoever'.

UIDAI also highlighted that the helpline number spotted by the users, which was 18003001947, was no longer a valid toll-free number, and it was changed to 1947 two years ago. "UIDAI has reiterated that it has not asked or advised anyone including any telecom service providers or mobile manufacturers or Android to include 18003001947 or 1947 in the default list of public service numbers," the authority behind Aadhaar had said.

It was initially speculated that the helpline number was pushed from the telcos. However, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) denied any role in the matter by its associated telcos while responding to an emailed query. "The inclusion of a certain unknown number in the phonebooks of various mobile handsets is not from any telecom service provider," COAI had said.

This furore on social media also forced the UIDAI and also service providers to send their statements to clear the air, and at last Google late at night.

There has been attempts by many hackers and coders over that last one week to prove that Aadhaar is not safe and it can be hacked anytime to get details of a person because everything including bank accounts, PAN and many others.

TRAI Chairman RS Sharma triggered the whole debate who challenged the hackers telling them they can cause no harm to him by knowing his Aadhaar number.

It led the government also to clarify again that there has been no misuse of UIDAI database till date and 'core biometrics' of Aadhaar were totally safe.

Addressing concerns over the safety of Aadhaar database raised during the Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday said, "There has been no case of misuse of UIDAI database till date."

Source: NDTV

Featured image: Representation