Rajiv Mehrishi. Credit: PTI
New Delhi: Rajiv Mehrishi, who retired as Union home secretary yesterday and is set to become India’s comptroller and auditor general, has said that 40% of Indians who use smartphones and certain popular apps, are sharing information, whether they know it or not, with the entire world, including the US’s Central Investigative Agency.
According to the Indian Express, Mehrishi made this statement on July 21, when he was questioned by a parliamentary panel on the privacy risks of linking Aadhaar to various services. He was answering to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs led by P. Chidambaram. The newspaper quoted sources as saying that Mehrishi called the sharing of mobile data by private companies a nuisance.
Fingerprints and biometrics are being captured by smartphones, he said, for the 40% of the population that uses them. When asked if this would be true for 100% of Indians when everyone gets a smartphone, he reportedly said yes.
He apparently also talked about the possibility of data theft for people using apps, and the possibility of being tracked. Former home minister Chidambaram apparently added that if two smartphones were in close proximity, it can be concluded that they are in the same room and this has been used for drone attacks and that this was how such attacks were carried out.
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