Edward Snowden comments on FIR against The Tribune, holds UIDAI responsible

Recently, Edward Snowden, the former NSA employee and fugitive whistleblower, had commented on the widely-reported Aadhaar breach, saying that governments always seek perfect records of citizens' private lives.

Today, after learning of the FIR filed by the UIDAI against The Tribune in connection with the breach, he made yet another comment on the matter, saying that the journalist who exposed the breach deserved an award, not an investigation, adding that the UIDAI is responsible for destroying the privacy of a billion Indians.

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) January 8, 2018

Aadhaar is a 12 digit unique-identity number issued to all Indian residents based on their biometric and demographic data. The data is collected by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), a statutory authority.

The Delhi Police has registered an "open-ended" First Information Report (FIR) on a complaint from UIDAI over the report on the alleged data breach.

The police probe in the Aadhaar data breach story had attracted strong criticism from various media organisations and bodies, including The Editors Guild of India which sought withdrawal of the case.

The Indian government yesterday said the FIR was filed against "unknown" accused and stressed that it was committed to "freedom of press" as well as to "maintaining security & sanctity of #Aadhaar".

Information and Technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had tweeted that the FIR was "against unknown".

The UIDAI also said that it was committed to the freedom of the press and will approach the newspaper and its reporter for cooperation in the investigation of the alleged data breach.