AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 2120 - Who is collecting your Aadhar data?

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

Monday, December 19, 2011

2120 - Who is collecting your Aadhar data? - The Sunday Guardian

Monday December 19th , 2011

GOVIND KRISHNAN V. Bangalore | 18Th Dec

Confirming the fears of the Parliamentary Standing Committee about the security of the data collected for the Aadhar scheme, an investigation carried out by this newspaper shows that sensitive biometric data and personal information which you hand over to private enrolment agencies for getting you Aadhar number, is far from safe.

Nandan Nilekani

Enrolment agencies that have been given the responsibility of collecting valuable information about Indian citizens, are flouting the rules laid down by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) by outsourcing the task of enrolment to local players illegally. The UIDAI does not have any information about who these sub-franchisees are, and is yet to crack down on the widespread collection of data by such illegal operators.

Several enrolment agencies this paper contacted admitted that they were outsourcing the work through manpower agencies or that they were on the lookout for franchisees.

When this reporter, posing as a software retailer from Bangalore, contacted the proprietor of an enrolment agency in Maharashtra over phone, he was offered a franchise to collect Aadhar numbers in Mumbai. In spite of being informed that he had no knowledge of Marathi or prior experience with data collection, he was told that the agency would supply him with 30 machines for around Rs 50 lakh and that he could start operating in Mumbai at his convenience. While many agencies are outsourcing the work despite the legal prohibition, others who are more wary say they are unclear on how to operate within the model provided by UIDAI.

"A case has been registered in Bangalore on the sub-contracting of Aadhar enrolment by Alankit Finsec to other private parties. The same company had reportedly sub-contracted enrolment work in Chandigarh to a private person, who in turn had outsourced it to other people. In Mysore, three people were booked for taking bribe to create false identities and in Hubli, three laptops used for collecting Aadhar data has been stolen," says Mathew Phillip, a social activist who has filed suit in the Bangalore Sessions Court alleging that the Aadhar scheme was illegal and unsafe. Viney Chawla, Alankit's company secretary, admitted to outsourcing data collection but said the practice has been discontinued after instructions from the UIDAI.

"The entire process by which all these companies have been given contracts by UIDA is highly suspicious. There was no tender process but rather an empanelment on request. Most of these companies have no prior experience with either biometrics, or data collection on a large scale. The operators they hire have no expertise in verifying the documents and data that is submitted for issuing the Aadhar numbers," says Venkatesh Bubberjung, a lawyer and anti-UID activist from Bangalore.

The list of companies that have been empanelled by the UIDAI seems to bear out Venkatesh's concerns. In 2010, a tea estate named Barunagar Tea Estates was given a contract to collect Aadhar data in Assam. A travel and ticketing agency in Chennai called Hermes I Tickets was empanelled to collect data from Bihar, Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The current enrolment agencies include a computer showroom and repair shop, printing presses, educational and philanthropic trusts, the National Association of Street Vendors, a sugar mill, insurance companies, BPOs, financial companies, coal and steel companies, construction companies and others.

A large section of the enrolment agencies have been granted rights to collect biometric, demographic and personal data in states whose language they do not know, and about which they have no local knowledge. For example, an educational society in Ranga Reddy district by the name Gouthami Educational Society has been tasked with collecting data from Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka. Jina Technologies from Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh has been empanelled to enrol from Kerala and Tamil Nadu, but not Andhra Pradesh.

This flawed model accounts for the enrolment agencies turning to local agents to carry out the work. "There is no way any company can cover the immense amount of data that has to be covered. While we may manage without outsourcing, we are completely dependent on local manpower agencies to provide us with operators in a particular area," the vice-president of a company empanelled for enrolment said on the condition of anonymity.

Emails sent to UIDAI chairperson Nandan Nilekani and Anil Khachi, deputy director of enrolments, were not answered till the time of going to press. UIDAI spokesperson Awadhesh Kumar Pandey was unavailable for comment.