100 billion uses on, Aadhaar authentication down for over 54 hours this year

A recent investigation reveals that India’s Aadhaar identity system suffered significant, prolonged outages in 2023, highlighting critical vulnerabilities in the world’s largest digital ID infrastructure. These disruptions, caused by technical glitches and connectivity issues, prevented millions from accessing essential government services and benefits, demonstrating that such failures are systemic rather than isolated incidents. This instability raises serious concerns about the reliability of digital identity platforms when they underpin fundamental rights. When authentication systems fail, individuals face immediate exclusion from welfare schemes and official transactions, turning technical incompetence into tangible social deprivation. The lack of timely public communication regarding these downtimes further erodes trust in the system’s transparency and accountability. For the open data community, this incident underscores the vital need for transparent, real-time performance metrics and open reporting on digital infrastructure reliability. Ensuring that outage data is publicly accessible allows for greater civic oversight and pushes service providers toward higher standards of accountability. Open data mechanisms are essential here to expose systemic flaws and protect citizens from being punished due to opaque technical failures.

Source: thehindu.com
Published on 2023-11-10

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