Airtel, Jio Perform Aadhaar Face Verification Without Consent

Visits to multiple outlets of the two service providers reveal no other Aadhaar authentication options offered; Airtel says 'communication gap' with showroom staff

- B ANBUSELVAN @Chennai

In an apparent violation raising privacy concerns, telecom giants Airtel and Reliance Jio, which account for 75% of India's subscriber base, seem to have silently made face authentication as the only mode of Aadhaar authentication for purchasing new SIM cards and for replacing damaged or lost ones.

Visits to at least eight outlets of the two service providers in Chennai and interaction with multiple consumers showed that, without exception, face authentication was used as the only mode of verification, failing which SIM cards were denied. Importantly, this was done without seeking explicit consent from the consumers.

The practice, followed for the past one year, is in violation of UIDAI's guidelines, which say face authentication is "consent based" and it is one among the many modes of authentication, which includes fingerprints, iris, and OTP. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) also clarified the same. This practice was not followed by other prominent players in the market when TNIE checked.