AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 10871 - FIR AGAINST THREE FIRMS FOR MISUSING STORED AADHAR BIOMETRICS

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, March 2, 2017

10871 - FIR AGAINST THREE FIRMS FOR MISUSING STORED AADHAR BIOMETRICS - Daily Pioneer

FIR AGAINST THREE FIRMS FOR MISUSING STORED AADHAR BIOMETRICS

Tuesday, 28 February 2017 | Souvik Mitra | New Delhi

In a first, an FIR has been registered against three firms and the chairman of SKOCH group Sameer Kocchar and other individuals for attempting unauthorised authentication and impersonation by using stored Aadhaar biometrics and spreading false rumour about the Aadhar ecosystem .

The firms under the scanner are Axis Bank, Mumbai-based Suvidhaa Infoserve and Bengaluru-based eMudhra. The three firms have been served a “notice for action” under Aadhaar regulations. The individual booked in the case has been identified as Gaurav Vasant Nikam.

On the basis of UIDAI Assistant Director General Yashwant Kumar’s complaint with the cyber cell, FICN, Crime Branch of Delhi Police, the FIR was registered under sections 409, 419, 120B of the Indian Penal Code and section 66 and 66C of the Information Technology Act.

The complaint was filed after UIDAI detected an exact biometric match in multiple consecutive transactions which the authority said was not possible without the biometrics being stored and their unauthorised use.

Kumar in the FIR alleged that an article published by chairman of Gurgaon based Think Tank Skoch group, Sameer Kocchar, claimed that Aadhar Authentication system is flawed and vulnerable. The article also claimed that it is possible that the authentication of the resident can be done by using stored biometric.

To substantiate the claim, Kochar had posted a video as a demonstration. On the evening of 13th February, Kochar used Twitter to spread false information/rumours that Aadhar has been hacked wherein he also referred to the said article.

The issue was enquired by the UIDAI Headquarters and it was found that the video posted in the said article presumably demonstrated a woman performing authentication under the name of Gaurav Vasant Nikam.

Thereafter the authentication records of Gaurav Vasant Nikam was checked and UIDAI officials noticed that he performed 397 biometric transactions between July 14, 2016 and February 9, 2017. Out of these, 194 transactions were performed through Axis Bank, 112 through eMudhra and 91 through Suvidhaa Infoserve.

But the question that popped up was that multiple transactions were performed concurrently with different Authentication Using agencies (AUA) — Axis, eMudhra and Suvidhaa — which suggested that these type of transaction were replayed by the developer, who is common for all the three AUA and attempted the illegal operations.

It was also observed that only one device was used per AUA, suggesting that only one developer performed the authentication, read the FIR.

Further the profile of Nikam was checked on Facebook and Linked-In, and his biometrics which were used, showed an address which matched the demographic records of Aadhaar. Police said they are investigating to establish the whereabouts of Nikam and there are indications that there could be more persons involved in this racket.