JAIPUR: Former CIA employee and the man who exposed mass surveillance programmes run by governments, intelligence agencies and major internet companies, Edward Snowden , has once again alleged that the privacy of Indians would be compromised by the Aadhaar card.

Delivering a talk at a private event in Jaipur via video conferencing on Saturday, Snowden warned Indians over the abuse of private information by the government, corporates and telecom companies.

"In India, you cannot get a birth certificate unless you have an Aadhaar number," he said, continuing his earlier criticism of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). Of his last 10 tweets, four have been retweets highlighting the problems caused by the 12-digit ID issued by UIDAI containing biometric and demographic data.

He termed the linking of every service to the ID as an ‘identity program’ by the government. "To open a bank account, they demand the physical verification of your ID card. These corporates have 100 ways of monitoring and abusing your privacy," he said.

For the system to survive in India, the government should levy a criminal penalty on those seeking ID for a service which is not required so by the government. "They should be sent to jail for forcing people to reveal such vital information. It has become so vulnerable that if you search a number on the internet, you will get all information of a person."

