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

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

793 - Aadhaar software locked in with ‘Windows' - The Hindu

Deepa Kurup,
Tuesday, Nov 02, 2010

The drivers for biometric devices are locked in with the Windows operating system platform.
BANGALORE: In its technology statement, Aadhaar, the massive Government of India project that seeks to enrol citizens, puts on record its commitment to using open technological standards. However, the government of Kerala — the only State that mandates the use of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in governance — recently found that the client enrolment software used is only compatible with Windows, the proprietary operating system owned by Microsoft.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) mandates that all ‘middleware' used in Aaadhaar must be vendor neutral. However, by using software that is only Windows-compliant, UID applications have already established a clear vendor lock-in. In Kerala, which has embraced open platforms, this is a vexatious issue because Virtual Device Managers – that provide an interface for applications to devices such as biometric devices – are not Linux-compatible.

Speaking to The Hindu, Ashok Dalwai, Deputy Director-General, UIDAI, said this is a “Kerala-specific issue.” He confirmed that all enrolment software is “purely for the Windows platform.” “For now, we have asked Kerala to go ahead with laptops with Windows. Our developers will work towards Linux compliance later.”

However, public agencies implementing Aadhaar in Kerala find this unacceptable because it violates the State's FOSS policy. Kerala is slated to implement the project in November. The three enrolment agencies — IT@Schools, Keltron and the Akshaya project are all government agencies — use only Linux operating systems. Prior to the first training session conducted in Bangalore mid-October, the agencies wrote to the UIDAI regional office in Bangalore pointing out difficulties in complying with a Windows-only regime.

“It is highly embarrassing and disappointing to see that proprietary applications are necessary, at least to start with,” says Anvar Sadath, executive director, IT@Schools. He emphasises that this is not a debate that pits Kerala versus UIDAI. “It has larger implications for a ‘knowledge society.' Can we imagine a situation where we revert to proprietary vendors to provide necessary upgradation/support to the data repository of over one billion people?” he asks. Besides, FOSS operating systems/applications offer huge cost-advantages, thereby saving precious public money (by using FOSS, IT@Schools alone saves up to Rs. 11 crore per year). Mr. Sadath insists that vendors be forced to develop/manage the necessary plug-ins or drivers for Linux support.

“This must be included in all tenders floated by the agency.”

FOSS activists find the proposal to “migrate to Linux later” unacceptable. Says Prabir Purkayastha of the Delhi Science Forum: “This is doubly problematic as it would drive an organisation [in Kerala] which is on an open platform to a closed platform, harming their own work. It also violates the UIDAI's declared policy.”

He believes that in the hurry to politically show results, UIDAI should not land up on closed platforms at the cost of policy and long-term goals.

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