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, March 9, 2016

9455 - Aadhaar Card Linked App Developed For Citizen Verification; Can It Incite Identity Thefts? - Trak.In

Last updated: March 7, 2016 at 16:42 pm
Aadhaar Card Linked App Developed For Citizen Verification; Can It Incite Identity Thefts?
Mohul Ghosh3 Min Read





Swabhimaanya, an organization authorized by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has created India’s first Aadhaar Card linked app to verify any Indian citizen instantly.

Termed as ‘TrustId’, this app has been specially developed for authenticating domestic helps and workers from unorganized sector.

Rahul Pagare, the CEO and founder of Swabhimaanya said, “The mobile application aims to provide instant verification using the Aadhaar number, name, gender and phone number of a person in less than a minute. It is a sort of assurance that the person is who he/she is says he/she is,”

How It Works
After downloading the app, the user needs to enter the Aadhaar Card + Name and Gender of the person he or she wishes to verify. The app will directly connect with the main Aadhaar Card database, and authenticate the user as per the requirements.

Each user shall get 25 credit checks, which would be free. 
After that, Rs 5 would be charged for each credit check.

Besides, the organization behind this app: Swabhimaanya also provides professional background check services which are paid and detailed.

Now, in case the Aadhaar card details are not present for any user (maybe they don’t have any Aadhaar Card), then TrustID will automatically add that person’s details in their own database, which can be used by any other person when searching the same.

TrustID has tied up with Gurgaon police as of now, so that domestic helps, tenants, employees can be verified. Once a person is verified using this app, that person is automatically registered with Gurgaon police.

Identity Theft Made Easy?
There are 98 crore Indians who have Aadhaar Cards right now in India, and such open access to Aadhaar Card details of any Indian has raised concerns of privacy protection and identity thefts.

What if a gang which specializes in identity theft targets an individual, and retrieves all data pertaining to that person using this app? Last year in October, we had reported how Aadhaar Card linked identity frauds are increasing all over the country, and how old age people are scammed into giving their details which are exploited by fraudsters.

When Government declared that new businesses which wants to be get registered should first apply for Aadhaar Card, then the move vehemently opposed by advocates of privacy protection in India. 

In fact, Govt. is planning to link SIM cards with Aadhar Card, banks are planning to use Aadhaar Card for biometric authentication during point of sale; and even Know Your Customer procedure has been linked with Aadhaar Card.

With TrustID, the only security feature is that, once a person is being verified using this app, that person will receive a call, informing that he or she is being verified.

But is this enough to protect identity of 98 crore Indians, whose data is right now stored insider Aadhaar Card database?
Do let us know by commenting right here.


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