I remember reading in tech magazines about the "foss" acheivement which went on to become Aadhar. Remember this was prior to 2007 I think.

The idea was your id would be an autehnticator of sorts. You need to verify yourself, the website asks Aadhar if the person is genuine, the website returns binary yes no. Same for you, is gender male? Or ages above 18?

They would not return any other data.

In the end, it became just another "formality" and tool for politicians and to flex muscles.

People ended up taking photocopies of your card "just in case" and "that's the norm" even when it was said that's a bad idea.

People still do Aadhar kyc but it is in hands of politicians now and the bureaucracy.

The problem with these "yes/no" systems is that they also involve the websites you visit calling up a centralized party and asking if you're old enough. This is fine if the websites aren't interested (or if you really trust your government with your web browsing history), but gets unfortunate if you don't want to share that information.