The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has cautioned Aadhaar cardholders against sharing their Aadhaar photocopy with any organization as a precautionary step against Aadhaar misuse. UIDAI, which is supervised by the Government of India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity), has said in an official announcement that “Do not share photocopy of your Aadhaar with any organizations because it can be misused. Alternatively, please use a masked Aadhaar which displays only the last 4-digits of your Aadhaar number.”
According to UIDAI “Mask Aadhaar option allows you to mask your Aadhaar number in your downloaded e-Aadhaar. Masked Aadhaar number implies replacing of first 8 digits of Aadhaar number with some characters like “xxxx-xxxx” while only last 4 digits of the Aadhaar Number are visible.”
Because masked Aadhaar is just a physical copy of your Aadhaar that can be used online or offline, it can be utilized everywhere in India at any time. The masked Aadhaar can be downloaded by going onto the UIDAI website and selecting the myaadhaar option. UIDAI has also warned citizens by saying that “Please avoid using a public computer at an internet cafe/kiosk to download e-Aadhaar. However, if you do so, please ensure that you delete all the downloaded copies of e-Aadhaar permanently from the computer.”
UIDAI recommends visiting those organizations who have got a user license from UIDAI and may utilize Aadhaar to authenticate a person’s identification in order to download e-Aadhaar safely. Unlicensed private entities, such as hotels or movie theaters, are not allowed to collect or keep copies of Aadhaar cards, and if a private entity demands the same, one should verify the entity’s legitimate UIDAI user license.
As an important safety alert, UIDAI has also mentioned on its website that “Aadhaar card should be freely used for proving identity and doing transactions, but should not be put on public platforms like Twitter, Facebook, etc. People give their debit card or credit card details or cheque (which has bank account number) when they purchase goods, or pay school fee, water, electricity, telephone and other utility bills, etc. Similarly, you can freely use your Aadhaar to establish your identity as and when required without any fear. While using Aadhaar, you should do the same level of due diligence as you do in case of other ID cards – not more, not less.”
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