Hyderabad: Citizens remained clueless about how an expired contact number of UIDAI has been added by default to their contact list, irrespective of the service provider and type of phone. Social media went crazy, over the default inclusion of ‘1800-300-1947’ in everyone’s contact list. With Google’s Android operating system ruling 90 per cent of the Indian smartphone market, a majority of users reported that they found the number on their contact list and vented out ire.
French Security researcher Mr Robert Bapatiste who goes by the pseudonym Elliot Alderson has asked users to check if they had UIDAI contact in their list. When Deccan Chronicle contacted him via Twitter, he said, “This contact seems to be installed by default for a lot of people. Nothing serious or harmful but it’s very surprising.”
Two default contacts ‘UIDAI’ and ‘distress number’ (112) are added in the contacts list when a phone is connected to internet in India or the phone uses an Indian Sim card. Mr Anivar Aravind, an Internet researcher, first pointed this out in November 2017 and sought an explanation from UIDAI.
Mr Kingsley John, an open source software and technology enthusiast from Bengaluru noticed the UIDAI number when he installed Andriod-x86 operating system on a virtual machine (VM) on his computer. He noticed that the entry based on the IP address of the phone. He said, “The Android-x86 is not India specific. So the only way for them to figure out where I am located is through my IP address. It appears that Android talks to Google’s servers and then determines what entries to add based on where the user is located. Android phones have been adding this entry for over four years now.” Furthermore, he said entries don’t get added automatically in “Made in India” phones or if you have a foreign SIM card. Without a Sim card, when the tech enthusiast updated his phone in India, UIDAI and distress number appeared automatically. When DC reached out to Google, they were unavailable for comment.
Curious to know how the number ended up in their contact list people questioned UIDAI for not seeking their permission. UIDAI claims that they never asked any company or manufacturer to add their contact. On Friday, it said, “In the wake of some media reports on default inclusion of UIDAI’s outdated and invalid toll free no in the contact lists of Android phones it is clarified that, UIDAI has not asked nor communicated to any manufacturer or service provider for providing any such facility whatsoever.”
UIDAI further alleged that some vested interests were creating unwarranted confusion and that 18003001947 was not a valid UIDAI toll free number. This number which ceased to exist according to UIDAI is printed on Aadhaar Card of all the card holders.
Experts alleged foul play on part of UIDAI as the distress number launched in 2017 is also added to the contacts. “The ‘distress number’ entry is 112 which was only made live in 2017. So there’s definitely some role of the government is playing in populating these entries,” Mr John alleged.
Users have been asking service providers Airtel, Vodafone, JIO and BSNL as to why this contact was added.
Mr S. Harinath, Rachakonda Cybercrimes ACP, “If it is being updated in the absence of the Sim card, there is certainly some foul play. We cannot rule out such things and shouldn't treat it like a default contact. We need to study this and people should be cautious. It a can be a Trojan in the form of a contact.”
Meanwhile some of the iPhone users also alleged that they could find UIDAI listed in their contact. The service providers also cannot be let off. When several users reached out to Vodafone, they did not deny but asked them to reach out to their privacy officer and said “We make every effort to ensure that customer data remains secured and we are in compliance with all the regulations.” When this paper reached out to Vodafone, they did not respond at the time of publishing.
