Google takes blame as UIDAI number pops up on contact lists

Tech giant Google said on Friday that it was responsible for a coding flaw that caused a defunct Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) helpline number to mysteriously appear in the contact lists of mobile phones running on its Android operating system. The clarification came hours after a social media storm against UIDAI, with users blaming the agency, which oversees the Aadhaar identification system, for pushing the information to their devices without their consent. “Our internal review has revealed that in 2014, the then UIDAI helpline number and the 112 distress helpline number were inadvertently coded into the SetUp wizard of the Android release given to OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) for use in India and has remained there since,” a Google spokesperson said. “We are sorry for any concern that this might have caused, and would like to assure everyone that this is not a situation of an unauthorised access of their Android devices.” The flaw did not mean any data of users had been compromised, the spokesperson added.