Using Voice for Unique ID / Aadhaar authentification
By Nikhil Pahwa on July 12th, 2010
A few days ago, while writing about the authentication API from India’s unique identification authority Aadhaar, we suggested that biometric scans should not be a prerequisite for Aadhaar authentication for services, since that would end up limiting the usage of Aadhaar only to physical verification: mobile devices cannot do fingerprint and Iris scans yet. At the same time, Aadhaar authentication would be essential for reducing KYC costs for mobile transactions as well, which Nokia has suggested, is a substantial cost (Read: Nokia’s Mobile Payment Suggestions)
At VAS Asia, Speech solutions company Nuance Communications showcased an implementation that they’ve done, for voice based authentication of rural daily wage laborers for India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Now the problem with the NREGS has been, as was reported by NDTV a few weeks ago, cases of faking identities to collect wages on behalf of people who weren’t enrolled, or even in existence. In conversation with MediaNama, Sunny Rao Managing Director (India & South East Asia) for Nuance explained how they’re authenticating workers.
When a worker registers for a program, they go through a voice enrollment process for authentication: the coordinator asks them to answer a few questions using their voice, creating a voice password. When someone turns up for work, their attendance is marked using a similar voice authentication process, and money is also collected after verification using the voice.
But what about a long term verification, like is required in the UID? The UID’s biometric authentication is using fingerprints or an iris scan; how does one authenticate voice over a long period of time, or when, say, someone has a sore throat – the voice changes. Rao said that they use something called password ageing. There’s a certain time limit, after which the password expires, and users have to authenticate themselves again; they have an operational procedure where reaches out to people once in six months, to keep the voice profile updated. “There are 28 characteristics to your voice, around five of which change when you have a sore throat. 23 remain the same, and we can make a confident determination on that basis. In case of an extreme situation like Laryngitis, we fall back on DTMF authentication.”
But is this foolproof? Rao said that they use methods like liveness detection to check for imposters, check for multi-factor authentication, where they may ask users questions to which answers only the registrant knows. He says a commercial deployment results in a false success of less than 1%: “if we have 1 million people enrolled, it is the percentage of imposter population that is trying to hack into the account. Out of those 1000, it is less than 1% who could on one particular access which we may incorrectly recognize.”
Rao said that the usage of voice authentication is more service dependent, and is a layer that can be added over and alongwith a UID number – perhaps used for rural banking, for remote access or verification.
Why this Blog ? News articles in the Wide World of Web, quite often disappear with time, when they are relocated as archives with a different url. Archives in this blog serve as a library for those who are interested in doing Research on Aadhaar Related Topics. Articles are published with details of original publication date and the url.
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
