UIDAI Cont No Save Automatically ?
Smartphone users in India were demanding answers after
people on Twitter posted screenshots of their phones’ contact lists with
a strange number included in it. Users claimed that they didn’t add the
contact to their devices, and for much of Friday, no one company or
person could explain how it got there in the first place.
UIDAI was created by the Indian government in 2009 to produce 12-digit
unique identification numbers for residents and run the database in
which the information is held. The numbers work similarly to Social
Security numbers in the States: they’re used to make it more difficult
for people to stew up fake identities and to help easily identify people
The contact, 1-800-300-1947, is an old toll-free number
for the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), and it’s been
showing up in contacts lists originating from Android devices. The same
number has showed up on iPhones as well, but only if its owner imported
those contacts from an Android device before.
The government body denied that it had anything to do with forcing the
number onto devices. In a statement, UIDAI said it “has reiterated that
it has not asked or advised anyone including any telecom service
providers or mobile manufacturers or Android to include [the contact] in
the default list of public service numbers.”