18th December 2010
Bengaluru, Dec. 17: Noted human rights activist Usha Ramanathan has warned that Unique Identification
Authority of India (UIAI)’s decision to allow MNC companies to take part in the data collection and card distribution work of the proposed Aadhar multi-purpose UID cards may end in disaster and even pose a danger to the internal security and sovereignty of the country.
While delivering a public talk on the implications of the Unique ID Project in India, Ms Usha stated that UIAI has been silent on the various security and privacy issues raised by activists, including sanctioning contracts to the MNCs.
“Two companies shortlisted for data collection and analysis have former bosses of the FBI and CIA on their management boards. There is no guarantee that they will not share the data collected for the purpose of UID with the security agencies of their home countries. In such a situation, UID is speaking of collecting DNA samples too,” she alleged.
She continued, “All the western countries have scrapped projects of this nature, citing various concerns raised by civil society. But the Indian government is showing unnecessary enthusiasm,” she scoffed.
“Details of the pilot project were not made public. The project has been implemented without any feasibility study. The bill related to the UIAI was framed after protests from civil groups. Yet parliament passed it without any discussion. It looks as if the government does not want to keep its citizens informed about this project,” she alleged.
“Even though UIAI authorities have assured that no private details of any individual will be divulged and that it will all be confidential, there is no guarantee that Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and IB will not get access to the data,” she said.
Taking a dig at union home minister P. Chidambaram, Ms Usha said Capt. Raghu Raman had been appointed head of the national intelligence grid. “But it is this same Capt. Raghu Raman who first proposed the concept of corporate armed forces in the country. When such persons are at the helm of things, there is no guarantee that the UIAI data will not be misused,” she cautioned.