AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 2913 - Iris scan to add layer to Aadhaar authentication

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

Sunday, February 3, 2013

2913 - Iris scan to add layer to Aadhaar authentication

Iris scan to add layer to Aadhaar authentication

System to be introduced in first quarter of 2013

Devjyot Ghoshal / New Delhi Jan 03, 2013, 00:27 IST

One of the biggest purported flaws of the Unique Identification Authority of India ( UIDAI)’s Aadhaar programme was the risk of deterioration of beneficiaries’ fingerprint quality, especially given the country’s large farm worker population, among the main target groups.

But, almost in sync with the government’s plan of rolling out the ambitious direct benefits transfer (DBT) scheme nationwide, starting with 20 districts from January 1, the UIDAI is finishing work on introducing iris-based authentication in the first quarter of 2013, said a senior UIDAI official.

The iris, a circular structure in the eye, is responsible for controlling the diameter and size of the pupils. The colours, textures and patterns of each individual’s irises are thought to be unique.

This type of authentication would allow UIDAI to not only use iris scans of residents taken during Aadhaar enrolment for de-duplication (eliminating duplicates), it could also utilise these, along with fingerprint scans, to reduce the overall rate of authentication failures.

“There are some huge advantages with iris,” the official said. “(For example) a labourer’s fingerprints may get worn out, but his iris won’t. Iris patterns are much more solid and give a lot more information.”

Although the UIDAI came for criticism in 2011, particularly from the home ministry, for the cost of scanning the irises of every resident who enrolled for Aadhaar, the official explained this was a requirement because it would be difficult to ensure accuracy in de-duplication in excess of 99 per cent on the basis of just one biometric measure.

“One fingerprint will give me limited information. Five fingerprints will mean more information and less chances of error. Similarly, if I have the iris (data) also, there is a wider set of information about a person and, therefore, the points of distinctness become much larger. And, the probability that both the iris and the finger will match is exceedingly small,” the official said.

Despite its utility, iris-based authentication was previously unfeasible, primarily due to the cost of scanners. “But now, we have seen very low-cost devices, some as low as those used for fingerprint authentication,” the official said, adding a clutch of both domestic and international vendors, including Koreans, were being roped in for a proof of concept (PoC), subsequent to which vendors would be empanelled.

“There are no standards in iris authentication available, as of now,” the official said. “We will be the first ones in the world who will have iris image and transmission standards, matching algorithms and compression (standards) well-defined.”

However, in a PoC conducted last year in Karnataka’s Mysore district, the failed authentication rate stood at only 0.79 per cent for single-eye cameras and 0.60 per cent for dual-eye cameras, for about 5,000 residents. “The results clearly demonstrate iris authentication to be viable in the Indian context,” the PoC report said.

But the real test for the technology would come if and when it is implemented nationwide from early this year, as DBT expands in its reach and scope.