A day after this issue on social media, Google apologized for the mysterious presence of the support helpline number on smartphone contact lists across India without the consent. Search Engine Giant Google said that it has "unknowingly coded" in the setup wizard for the Android operating system, the crisis helpline '112' and India's Unique Identification Authority.
A company spokesman said in a statement "Our internal review revealed that in 2014, the then UIDAI Helpline number and 112 Trouble Helpline number were coded in the setup wizard of Android Release, originally provided to the original device manufacturers for use in India and it has been compiled since then."
Google apologized even for "any concerns", and assured that this is not the unauthorized access to Android devices. "Users can manually delete the number from their device." The statement states that the numbers "are stored in the user's contact list and can be transferred to any new device."
The Search Engine Giant said that this setup will work to improve it in the upcoming release of the wizard and it will be made available to original device makers in the next few weeks.
Earlier, on that day, UIDAI had said that the toll free number 1800-300-1947, which was visible in the smartphone's contact lists, was outdated and invalid, making it clear that any manufacturer Or the service provider has not asked or communicated.
The Cellular Operators Association of India also denied that any member of this has loaded an unknown number on any mobile phone of their customers.
This incident was published on Thursday when the French security expert, who went online by the nickname Elliot Elderson, asked people on Twitter whether UIDAI Helpline is stored in their smartphone. Within hours, hundreds of people posted screenshots and responded positively and said that it was done without their explicit consent.
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