AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 1342 - World renowned academicians say level of uncertainty in biometrics is too high and UID tests prove nothing - Source

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

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

1342 - World renowned academicians say level of uncertainty in biometrics is too high and UID tests prove nothing - Source - Money Life

May 24, 2011 06:33 PM
Moneylife Digital Team

A study argues that there is too much uncertainty in biometrics to predict how well the technology will perform in the real world, much less support investment in this technology

Three scholars who have provided the academic foundation for the biometrics industry, particularly in the Western world, say that the level of uncertainty in biometrics is so great that tests prove nothing.

The academicians have, in a paper titled "Fundamental issues in biometric performance testing: A modern statistical and philosophical framework for uncertainty assessment", ( http://biometrics.nist.gov/cs_links/ibpc2010/pdfs/FundamentalIssues_Final.pdf) argued that the level of uncertainty in biometrics is so great that they cannot be used to predict how well the technology will perform in the real world and therefore this cannot support a valid argument for investment in biometrics.

The academicians are James L Wayman from San José State University, Antonio Possolo, head of the statistical engineering division at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and Anthony J Mansfield from UK National Physical Laboratory, all recognised as stalwarts of the biometrics industry.

However, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which has embarked on a tagging programme that is based on biometrics, is silent on the report. The institution has, till now, been quick to associate with other academic groups.

While UIDAI claims that biometrics will allow it to deliver a unique identification, it has goofed up its own test results while pushing its ambitious Aadhaar project. (Read, 'How UIDAI goofed up pilot test results to press forward with UID scheme'.)

Since its inception, UIDAI has tried to force the use of biometrics for the UID number as the ultimate solution. UIDAI conducted a proof of the concept trial of the Aadhaar project between March and June 2010. The results of the concept trial, or scenario test, suggest that biometrics cannot be reliable and may encounter huge problems while dealing with false positives.

David Moss, who spent eight years campaigning against the UK's National ID (NID) card scheme, sees hard times ahead for the global mass consumer biometrics industry. He said, "Not only has the industry lost its academic support, but governments are starting to abandon ship. President Obama's plans for trusted identity on the web make no mention of biometrics. The same goes for the UK's plans for identity assurance, in which case also there is no mention of relying on biometrics at all."

"The superstitious belief in mass consumer biometrics is like an illness, it's like the tulip mania that affected Holland in the 17th century. And now, perhaps, it is passing. Even in Holland, where they announced last month that they have suspended their plans to develop a centralised population register recording every person's biometrics," Mr Moss said.

There are three types of tests used for biometrics. One is the lab or technology test; the other is the operational or field test; and the third is a scenario test. A biometrics technology test is conducted in the lab and is entirely computer-based. An operational test is conducted in the field, in the real world, with the biometrics package coming under attack from different, unpredictable sets. In a scenario test, researchers recruit a putatively representative sample of the population so that they can test the biometrics packages with real people under still fairly controllable conditions. The UIDAI used the scenario test for UID.

On the scenario test, the three academicians write, "The test repeatability and reproducibility observed in technology tests are lost in scenario testing due to the loss of statistical control over a wide range of influence quantities. Our inability to apply concepts of statistical control to any or all of these factors will increase the level of uncertainty in our results and translate to loss of both repeatability and reproducibility. Test data from scenario evaluations should not be used as input to mathematical models of operational environments that require high levels of certainty for validity."

This exactly is the reason why governments across the globe are not emphasising on biometrics anymore. Last year, the newly-elected government in the UK scrapped the National ID programme citing huge costs, impracticality and ungovernable breaches of privacy associated with the programme. Last month, the US released its 'National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace' signed by president Obama and nowhere has the 45-page document used the word 'biometrics'.

Also in April, the Dutch government suspended its plan to develop a centralised flat print fingerprint population register, citing concerns about security and reliability of the system.

However, this is not the case with India, where it seems that there is ample money and nobody cares about security, reliability and privacy, and everybody from politicians, corporates to the media are 'greased', directly or indirectly. This is the reason why UIDAI is forcing the UID number onto gullible citizens.

"Why is India spending billions on Aadhaar, which depends on biometrics whose reliability is, so say the titans, utterly unknowable? And will the UIDAI ever answer my question how they can claim to offer unique identification when, based on their own figures, they would have to perform 18,000,000,000,000 (18 trillion or 18 lakh crore) manual checks to prove uniqueness? And why do they think Aadhaar will eradicate corruption, rather than automate corruption," asks Mr Moss.
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