AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 8595 - Biometrics in healthcare, mobile authentication, Aadhaar, Biometrics2015 and more top stories

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, August 25, 2015

8595 - Biometrics in healthcare, mobile authentication, Aadhaar, Biometrics2015 and more top stories

Biometrics in healthcare, mobile authentication, Aadhaar, Biometrics2015 and more top stories

By Justin Lee

August 23, 2015 -

Here is a recap of the most popular biometrics industry news that appeared on BiometricUpdate.com this past week.

Biometrics 2015: Isabelle Moeller Q&A

One of the week’s most popular stories came in the form of a Q&A interview with Biometrics Institute CEO Isabelle Moeller, who discussed preparations and details about the upcoming Biometrics 2015: Secure Identity Solutions Now! conference, held October 13 – 15 at the QEII Centre in Westminster, London.

India bars national biometric identity usage

In a surprising twist, India’s Supreme Court placed a cease order on the national Indian government concerning the use of Aadhaar data. Last week, the Court barred the country’s Election Commission from linking electoral data to the Aadhaar system until the greater question of privacy and the use of the biometric system itself is settled.

DHS funds mobile authentication development

The Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology directorate has awarded HRL Laboratories, United Technologies Research Center, and Northrop Grumman nearly $5 million to research new mobile authentication technologies.

Analyst Reports

Several analyst reports surfaced this week, each providing their own unique take on the current and future forecast of the global biometrics market. First, Tractica published a report entitled “Biometrics in the Healthcare Industry”, which provides a 10-year forecasts for the period from 2015 through 2024 in which the worldwide healthcare biometrics market will reach a cumulative revenue of $12.5 billion by 2024.

Next, Future Market Insights announced it will publish a report entitled “Biometrics Services Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2015 – 2020”, which predicts the market to undergo a double-digit growth rate by 2019 from its previous global market value of US$ 6,357.7 million in 2012.

Finally, research analyst group Sandler Research published the “Voice Recognition Biometrics Market 2015-2019 Report” in which it forecasts that the global voice recognition market will grow at 22.15% CAGR to 2019.

Law enforcement

Biometrics in law enforcement has always been a hot topic issue, particularly in respect to privacy concerns. This week saw a report from The New York Times which singled out The San Diego Police Department’s use of facial recognition software, albeit with few guidelines and little public disclosure, which has led to public concerns about privacy and potential misuse of the technology

A few days later, The New York Times published an editorial-opinion letter written by Amy Hess, executive assistant director of the FBI’s science and technology division. The letter was in response to some of the inaccuracies included in the previous Times report regarding the FBI’s Next Generation Identification technology’s use of facial recognition analysis.

FIDO certification

This was certainly a big week for the FIDO (Fast IDentity Online) Alliance, as the organization announced there are 62 FIDO Certified products following the second round of FIDO Alliance testing of products for compliance to the FIDO 1.0 specifications.

In a separate announcement, South Korean payment service firm SK Planet announced that its biometric authentication solution passed the Fast IDentity Online (FIDO) Alliance’s interoperability test

Customs and borders

Indra announced it has successfully deployed approximately 124 automatic border control (ABC) biometric kiosks at five airports across Spain, including in Madrid, Barcelona, Girona, Palma de Mallorca and Alicante.

Turning over to India, Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad announced it has implemented biometric border control technology to become the nation’s first airport to provide a completely paper-less e-boarding solution.

Financial

In the first of two financial stories, First Tech Federal Credit Union announced it has implemented a pilot program with MasterCard that will enable First Tech employees to authenticate and verify financial transactions using facial recognition and fingerprints.

Meanwhile, the Nymi Band, a wearable authentication device that uses electrocardiogram technology, has been used to make the world’s first credit card payment at a cash register verified by the user’s unique heartbeat.

Fingerprints

And finally, CrucialTec announced that its fingerprint module business will continue to grow throughout the remainder of the year as a result of the upward trajectory of the Chinese biometrics market.