AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 11695 - Telecom operators 'spam' customers for 'mammoth' Aadhaar re-verification

In 2009, I became extremely concerned with the concept of Unique Identity for various reasons. Connected with many like minded highly educated people who were all concerned.

On 18th May 2010, I started this Blog to capture anything and everything I came across on the topic. This blog with its million hits is a testament to my concerns about loss of privacy and fear of the ID being misused and possible Criminal activities it could lead to.

In 2017 the Supreme Court of India gave its verdict after one of the longest hearings on any issue. I did my bit and appealed to the Supreme Court Judges too through an On Line Petition.

In 2019 the Aadhaar Legislation has been revised and passed by the two houses of the Parliament of India making it Legal. I am no Legal Eagle so my Opinion carries no weight except with people opposed to the very concept.

In 2019, this Blog now just captures on a Daily Basis list of Articles Published on anything to do with Aadhaar as obtained from Daily Google Searches and nothing more. Cannot burn the midnight candle any longer.

"In Matters of Conscience, the Law of Majority has no place"- Mahatma Gandhi

Ram Krishnaswamy

Sydney, Australia.

Aadhaar

The UIDAI has taken two successive governments in India and the entire world for a ride. It identifies nothing. It is not unique. The entire UID data has never been verified and audited. The UID cannot be used for governance, financial databases or anything. It’s use is the biggest threat to national security since independence. – Anupam Saraph 2018

When I opposed Aadhaar in 2010 , I was called a BJP stooge. In 2016 I am still opposing Aadhaar for the same reasons and I am told I am a Congress die hard. No one wants to see why I oppose Aadhaar as it is too difficult. Plus Aadhaar is FREE so why not get one ? Ram Krishnaswamy

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.-Mahatma Gandhi

In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.Mahatma Gandhi

“The invasion of privacy is of no consequence because privacy is not a fundamental right and has no meaning under Article 21. The right to privacy is not a guaranteed under the constitution, because privacy is not a fundamental right.” Article 21 of the Indian constitution refers to the right to life and liberty -Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi

“There is merit in the complaints. You are unwittingly allowing snooping, harassment and commercial exploitation. The information about an individual obtained by the UIDAI while issuing an Aadhaar card shall not be used for any other purpose, save as above, except as may be directed by a court for the purpose of criminal investigation.”-A three judge bench headed by Justice J Chelameswar said in an interim order.

Legal scholar Usha Ramanathan describes UID as an inverse of sunshine laws like the Right to Information. While the RTI makes the state transparent to the citizen, the UID does the inverse: it makes the citizen transparent to the state, she says.

Good idea gone bad
I have written earlier that UID/Aadhaar was a poorly designed, unreliable and expensive solution to the really good idea of providing national identification for over a billion Indians. My petition contends that UID in its current form violates the right to privacy of a citizen, guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. This is because sensitive biometric and demographic information of citizens are with enrolment agencies, registrars and sub-registrars who have no legal liability for any misuse of this data. This petition has opened up the larger discussion on privacy rights for Indians. The current Article 21 interpretation by the Supreme Court was done decades ago, before the advent of internet and today’s technology and all the new privacy challenges that have arisen as a consequence.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MP Rajya Sabha

“What is Aadhaar? There is enormous confusion. That Aadhaar will identify people who are entitled for subsidy. No. Aadhaar doesn’t determine who is eligible and who isn’t,” Jairam Ramesh

But Aadhaar has been mythologised during the previous government by its creators into some technology super force that will transform governance in a miraculous manner. I even read an article recently that compared Aadhaar to some revolution and quoted a 1930s historian, Will Durant.Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Rajya Sabha MP

“I know you will say that it is not mandatory. But, it is compulsorily mandatorily voluntary,” Jairam Ramesh, Rajya Saba April 2017.

August 24, 2017: The nine-judge Constitution Bench rules that right to privacy is “intrinsic to life and liberty”and is inherently protected under the various fundamental freedoms enshrined under Part III of the Indian Constitution

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the World; indeed it's the only thing that ever has"

“Arguing that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say.” -Edward Snowden

In the Supreme Court, Meenakshi Arora, one of the senior counsel in the case, compared it to living under a general, perpetual, nation-wide criminal warrant.

Had never thought of it that way, but living in the Aadhaar universe is like living in a prison. All of us are treated like criminals with barely any rights or recourse and gatekeepers have absolute power on you and your life.

Announcing the launch of the # BreakAadhaarChainscampaign, culminating with events in multiple cities on 12th Jan. This is the last opportunity to make your voice heard before the Supreme Court hearings start on 17th Jan 2018. In collaboration with @no2uidand@rozi_roti.

UIDAI's security seems to be founded on four time tested pillars of security idiocy

1) Denial

2) Issue fiats and point finger

3) Shoot messenger

4) Bury head in sand.

God Save India

Thursday, August 3, 2017

11695 - Telecom operators 'spam' customers for 'mammoth' Aadhaar re-verification - ZEE News

Telecom operators 'spam' customers for 'mammoth' Aadhaar re-verification

Telecom operators maintain that they are currently not terminating or temporarily halting services of any customer who isn't agreeing for re-verification using Aadhaar. Image Source: Aadhaar UIDAI ad/ Youtube

By Yoshita Rao

Updated: Tue, Aug 01, 2017

02:31 pm

Mumbai, ZeeBiz WebDesk

Key Highlights

Government has issued a mandate for re-verifying Aadhaar with mobile numbers in March.
Telecom operators have clarified that there will be no termination of services by operators.
Vodafone said it has re-verified 25% of its subscribers till date.

'Is it compulsory to link my phone number to Aadhaar?' This is a question a lot of people out of 100 crore mobile subscribers in India are currently asking.

Telecom companies, including Airtel and Vodafone are sending ‘reminder’ SMSes to their customers to get mobile numbers re-verified with respective Aadhaar numbers in order to continue using services.

This move came after the Supreme Court in February this year said that all phone numbers in India should have verified users.

India’s top court did not give specific directions to verify all numbers with Aadhaar however this was decided by the government of its own accord, a report by Live Mint said on March 25.

Shortly after, a notice was issued by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in the month of March which directed all operators to re-verify existing customers, prepaid and postpaid, using their unique Aadhaar identity number and biometric details.

While this re-verification process was accelerated in the past month, the nature of the SMSes from telecom operators were of a threatening nature that read services would be terminated if not linked with Aadhaar soon.

“Sarkaari nirdeshanusar, aapka mobile number AADHAAR se jode anyatha apka number band ho jayega (As per government directive, it is mandatory to link Aadhaar with your mobile number else your number will be terminated),” a message from Vodafone Care read.

Airtel has also been circulating similar messages that read, “As per Government directive, it is mandatory to link Aadhaar with your Airtel mobile number. To enjoy continued services, update Aadhaar for free ONLY at retailer.”

Mobile subscribers have now taken to social media platforms to rant over this urgency created by their network providers and the umpteen messages to link Aadhaar with mobile numbers.

The deadline for all mobile service providers to get Aadhaar linked to respective mobile numbers was specified as early next year. “Any unverified mobile phone number, or any number that is not linked to Aadhaar, will be illegal after 6 February 2018,” the report by Mint added.

Telecom operators maintain that they are currently not terminating or temporarily halting services of any customer who isn't agreeing for re-verification using Aadhaar.

“We are not stopping on halting any services,” Airtel said.

“Airtel has a large customer base of 280 million (28 crore). Customers receive a simple contextual reminder to complete their Aadhaar based verification when they are at a retail outlet for recharges or while making payments etc. Customers can complete the process as per their own convenience [before the deadline],” an email from the company read.

“While for an individual customer, it might not be a short deadline. However, we serve over 211 million (21.1 crore) customers and need to re-verify this existing customer base, which is a mammoth task,” said Mandeep Singh Bhatia, EVP – New Business Initiatives, Vodafone India.

He further added, “Given the size of the task to be done, Vodafone’s robust retail network will play an important role in the success of this initiative. However, there needs to be an increased awareness amongst consumers. We have initiated communication with existing customers about the necessary requirements through multiple touchpoints like direct emailers, SMS, retail outlets, etc.”

Vodafone said it has re-verified nearly 5.27 crore subscribers till date.

“We have rolled out the exercise across all our 10,000 Vodafone retail stores and 5 lakhs Multi Brand Outlets across India. Nationally, over 25% of Vodafone customers have been re-verified,” Bhatia added.

A Reliance Jio official who wished not to be quoted said, “Given that Jio had majority of its customers enrolling into the network last year via e-KYC very few have enrolled without giving Aadhaar and biometric details.”

“It is for the ease of customers, that we are urging them to get their SIMs linked to Aadhaar now, so that they avoid the long queues during the last month,” Vodafone’s Bhatia said.