AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 9818 - Privacy is the new security

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

Thursday, April 14, 2016

9818 - Privacy is the new security - Financial Express

Privacy is the new security

Wayback in 2005, ICICI emerged as the first bank in India to launch a biometric ATM at Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh.

By: Prabhu Mallikarjunan | April 11, 2016 6:05 AM

Wayback in 2005, ICICI emerged as the first bank in India to launch a biometric ATM at Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. It absolved the need for PIN number by using thumb impression for identification, making it easier for people in rural areas to transact. More than a decade later, DCB Bank has now started an Aadhaar-based ATM facility, wherein, a customer can transact using his biometric details and Aadhar number, instead of PIN number and ATM card for authentication. The users don’t even need a card as long as they can remember their 12-digit Aadhaar number.

Much has changed in the Fintech space over the last few years and e-wallet services have emerged to drive the cashless economy. From online shopping to cab booking to hotel bookings and grocery shopping, everywhere is driven by apps. The application (App) economy has made fintech companies adopt identity authentication, secure single sign-on and device management in many emerging countries.

Vic Mankotia, vice-president, security and API management (Asia Pacific and Japan) at CA Technologies says that using biometric as one of the factors to log into a secure session is going to begin with mobile devices and that wallet service with a biometric would be better and secure.

“Many end-point devices today have biometrics built in. Users are using these to authenticate in this application economy to numerous applications. Will this start an advent of financial applications adopting these, yes, but only if there is a secure way to do this with no data leaving the device. The future is bright and adoption will take place in the smart metropolitan areas that are connected and then spread to other sectors,” Mankotia said.

However, it is noticed that in India, there is currently no entity who has availed this, while the banks and financial service companies recently have awarded request for proposals and are still discussing the overall architecture with select original equipment manufacturers and system integrators.

People are trading privacy and data security for convenience, adding to the digital privacy woe in the era of big data analytics and creating a challenge for businesses to secure their data. One of the most effective and convenient way is the Single Sign-On (SSO)—one log in and the user can access the data needed from multiple applications. Thus any data loss/theft issues needs to be fixed in a short span of time to avoid data being vulnerable for too long.

Mankotia says SSO can also prove to be prone to hacking—because hackers can access multiple applications with just one stolen cookie or session token. “If there was no data leaving the device, where the applications were not revealing personal identifiable data and if there was information shared it was with the users clear and written consent only, we would be in a position to manage our privacy.

Privacy is the new security,” he adds.

“We have to view security as business enabler rather than barrier. The security threats today cannot be managed by
archaic methods, it requires smarter software solutions, ensuring security of data and recovery of data.”

A research carried out by CA Technologies in association with research consulting firm TRPC on the readiness of 10 Asia Pacific & Japan (APJ) markets to thrive in the application economy indicates India is ranked 9th overall on parameters like internet and mobile infrastructure, government use and support of technology and innovation and business agility. Thus leaving space for a huge potential for improvement with the increasing smartphone users, internet penetration and app usage. The country was ranked no 2, only next to China as a market potential accelerator.

CA Technologies, which provides data security solutions through CA DataMinder, helps in minimising the chances of data loss by controlling the information— and access to it—at every point in the system. The company has also acquired Xceedium and IdMLogic and enhanced the security portfolio and innovative security solutions.

Commenting on how CA is adding value through its solution for the app economy, Mankotia said, “CA’s single sign-on secure SSO and flexible identity access management solutions provide organisations and enterprises to authenticate users and control access to web applications and portals.

It also scales to help meet growing business needs with flexible administration tools that can support either centralised or distributed administration.

(The writer was in Singapore at the invitation of CA Technologies)