The Digi Yatra Foundation on Friday revealed that passengers’ personally identifiable information is not stored by Digi Yatra and that the Indian users’ personal data is safe and secure. This assurance comes amid concerns over the privacy of user data.
In its statement the foundation said that the infrastructure of Digi Yatra’s technology is being pushed to cover 15-28 airports by this month’s end.
Digi Yatra utilises Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) to enable passengers to move through airport checkpoints seamlessly and without contact.
Highlighting that Digi Yatra operates on the concept of Self Sovereign Identity, the organisation underscored that the Digi Yatra Central Ecosystem (DYCE) refrains from storing any Personally Identifiable Information (PII) or ID credentials data in any central repository.
“The Digi Yatra blockchain only has Hash/Key values to check the Integrity of the data,” the foundation said.
What are the concerns surrounding Digi Yatra?
Earlier this week, concerns were raised regarding the privacy of data shared with Digi Yatra in relation to former vendor Dataevolve, which is currently under investigation.
Suresh Khadakbhavi, CEO of the foundation, stated that Dataevolve has been entirely removed from the Digi Yatra ecosystem.
Assuring the safety of personal data belonging to 3.3 million Indian users and the Digi Yatra app, the foundation emphasised that neither the foundation nor any service provider can access user data. This is because all Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is solely stored on the user’s mobile device within the Digi Yatra app and is accessible only to the user.
Furthermore, it was explained that when the app is uninstalled or deleted, the credentials data and travel history are automatically deleted from the user’s device.
(With PTI inputs)