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

Saturday, January 13, 2018

12725 - Ethical Hacker Breaks Into Aadhaar’s Official Android App To Reveal Its Poor Security - Story Pick

Ethical Hacker Breaks Into Aadhaar’s Official Android App To Reveal Its Poor Security
 Anandita Malhotra - 11th January 2018


The Aadhaar card has been under a lot of public scrutiny recently. This is because of the recent revelation that the data can be bought for just Rs. 500. However, the UIDAI also gave out a statement refuting all the allegations.

Image Source
In another attempt to prove how low the Aadhaar card security is this online researcher tried something else. Going by the name of Elliot Alderson he brought to light that the mAadhaar (the official Android app for Aadhaar) has poor security standards.


Elliot Alderson
@fs0c131y

Hi #Aadhaar ! Can we talk about the #BenefitsOfAadhaar for the #India population?

I quickly check your #android app on the #playstore and you have some security issues...It's super easy to get the password of the local database for example...
http://
play.google.com/store/apps/det
ails?id=in.gov.uidai.mAadhaarPlus 
…
05:12 - 11 Jan 2018

mAadhaar
mAadhaar is official mobile application developed by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to provide an interface to Aadhaar Number Holders to carry their demographic information viz....
3.4/5.0 stars – 22,433 ratings
Twitter Ads information and privacy

He illustrated each point he was trying to make with a code he had used to hack the system.
He further said that they are “saving your biometric settings in a local database which is protected with a password. To generate the password they used a random number with 123456789 as seed” and use way too easy passwords to protect vital information.
11 Jan

Elliot Alderson
@fs0c131y
Hi #Aadhaar ! Can we talk about the #BenefitsOfAadhaar for the #India population?

I quickly check your #android app on the #playstore and you have some security issues...It's super easy to get the password of the local database for example...
http://
play.google.com/store/apps/det
ails?id=in.gov.uidai.mAadhaarPlus 
…


Elliot Alderson
@fs0c131y

The #Aadhaar #android app is saving your biometric settings in a local database which is protected with a password. To generate the password they used a random number with 123456789 as seed and a hardcoded string db_password_123  pic.twitter.com/Ty7cPmOjAb
05:12 - 11 Jan 2018

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Now I’m no expert but even I can understand that this is definitely not the best safeguarding strategy. Maybe not keep a password like “123456789” for what is the largest biometric database in the world?
He even explained everything the Aadhaar card database contains. And tagged the UIDAI calling them out for their poor security measures.
11 Jan

Elliot Alderson
@fs0c131y
Replying to @fs0c131y
According to the official documentation, 
https://
aadhaarapi.com/aadhaar-respon
se-format/ 
…, EKYC Profile Data contains the following data:
- User_Id
- Aadhar_Id
- Name
- Dob
- Gender
- Address
- Photo
- ... pic.twitter.com/x1TI9uXXTM


Elliot Alderson
@fs0c131y

So @UIDAI you are storing a biometric data on the local database: the photo of the user.
22:07 - 11 Jan 2018
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However, the UIDAI responded to the user and clarified that the “question of biometrics doesn’t arise” because the mAadhaar doesn’t “capture, store or take any biometric inputs”.
11 Jan

Elliot Alderson
@fs0c131y
Hi #Aadhaar ! Can we talk about the #BenefitsOfAadhaar for the #India population?

I quickly check your #android app on the #playstore and you have some security issues...It's super easy to get the password of the local database for example...
http://
play.google.com/store/apps/det
ails?id=in.gov.uidai.mAadhaarPlus 
…


Aadhaar
✔
@UIDAI

mAadhaar uses a local db to store the user preferences on the user's device. This data is application preferences as created by user on his/her phone. The app does not capture, store or take any biometric inputs. So question of biometrics being compromised does not arise.
21:09 - 11 Jan 2018
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Elliot then tried to prove his point by replying to the UDAI.
11 Jan

Aadhaar
✔
@UIDAI
Replying to @fs0c131y
mAadhaar uses a local db to store the user preferences on the user's device. This data is application preferences as created by user on his/her phone. The app does not capture, store or take any biometric inputs. So question of biometrics being compromised does not arise.


Elliot Alderson
@fs0c131y

Hi @UIDAI,

As said in this tweet, you stored the hash of the user password in the database. As the db password is identical for everybody it's easy for an attacker to get it an so compromised his account.
Can you consider this and fix that?

Regards,
https://
twitter.com/fs0c131y/statu
s/951396546557435904 
…
21:21 - 11 Jan 2018
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While companies like Facebook and Google offer bounty to anyone who can hack their platforms and report it to them, it’s the denial of the Aadhaar authorities that’s alarming. No system is full-proof, but with the help of white-hat hackers like Elliot (and hundred others), the least UIDAI can do is to acknowledge gracefully and fix the loopholes.
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