Facebook is tracking you more than anything, not Aadhaar: Thomas Friedman

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Over the last few years, Aadhaar usage has gone up significantly. 2017 was a challenging year with many incidents and claims relating to biometrics, privacy and exclusion.

The government has had to learn to walk the line between transparency and privacy, and now deal with the attentions of international hackers, all in the middle of a very noisy debate.

Here’s what Friedman had to say when he was asked about the privacy concerns raised by the UID program in India.

“I am a huge enthusiast of the UID platform. I feel that is going to be a platform for innovation.”

“Societies require these platforms where people are integrated with a trusted ID. I think concerns about privacy are bogus.”

“The platform doesn’t store anything about you except your biometrics. It’s not tracking you.”

“Facebook is tracking you much more today. If you are worried about privacy, then you shouldn’t be using Google, Facebook, Twitter, any of these things.”

“They are tracking you so much more than the Indian government is tracking you.”

“What’s worse is that they are selling it [information about you] for profit. So, I think the privacy concern [around Aadhaar] is bogus.”