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

Friday, December 23, 2016

10580 - Meeting biometric authentication deadline a big challenge for banks - Live Mint

Last Modified: Wed, Nov 09 2016. 02 48 AM IST

Meeting biometric authentication deadline a big challenge for banks

Banks say there is still a long way to go before the supporting infrastructure is put in place for biometric authentication-based transactions on ATMs and PoS machines

Komal Gupta

The decision came on the recommendation of a RBI working group favouring use of Aadhaar as an alternative for additional authentication of domestic card transactions. Photo: Hemant Mishra/Mint

New Delhi: With less than two months left to meet the deadline set by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), banks are moving towards enabling ATMs and point of sale (PoS) machines they will install in the new year to allow Aadhaar-based biometric authentication.

Banks say there is still a long way to go before the supporting infrastructure is put in place for biometric authentication-based transactions on ATMs and PoS machines.

Last month, RBI issued a notification asking all banks to ensure that ATMs and PoS machines deployed from 1 January are enabled for accepting chip-enabled cards as well as those authenticated using a personal identification number (PIN) or the Aadhaar unique identification number and biometric verification.

The decision came on the recommendation of a working group established by RBI favouring the use of Aadhaar as an effective alternative for additional authentication of domestic card transactions.

“It is the incremental engagement that is getting secured, but the existing inventory also needs to be updated in order to eliminate the chances of data breach,” said Puneet Kapoor, senior executive vice-president at Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. “It will take some time before we reach a position where we can say that we have really optimized the opportunity of biometric authentication.”

The introduction of biometric-enabled PoS machines will allow more people to perform Aadhaar-based financial transactions because of the large issuance of RuPay cards under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, a government initiative to ensure every household has access to a bank account, said Ritesh Pai, senior president and country head of digital banking at Yes Bank Ltd.
“Biometric-enabled PoS machines are also expected to ease the experience of financial transactions for a large number of users and it also ensures higher security levels,” Pai added. “This will spur a gradual adoption of such infrastructure throughout the ecosystem, and eventually we are likely to see only biometric-enabled infrastructure to be present for card acceptance with older devices being replaced.”

With more than 1.07 billion Aadhaar enrolments, the use of Aadhaar for authentication of proof of identity and proof of address and for electronic know your customer verification is expected to pick up in the coming months.

“For a card present transaction, PIN is a factor for authentication. In the place of the PIN, we can use biometric authentication. The latter will be more authentic in comparison to the first one,” said an official at Federal Bank who didn’t want to be named. “So, theoretically at least, if the card is dumped, the thumbprint alone will be only a single factor authentication, though more secure than the card and PIN combo.”
This official said RBI’s 1 January deadline will be a “challenge” for banks to meet.

Delta ID Inc., an iris scan technology developer, is in talks with some banks for use of its software in PoS terminals and ATMs.
“With the addition of biometrics, payments will change for the better for both consumers and banks. We will start seeing both fingerprint and iris [scan] in PoS devices next year. Biometrics ensures low fraud and associated risks,” said Vivek Khandelwal, vice-president of business development at Delta ID.

Komal Gupta

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