AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 10967 - 'Show me even one example of data theft. Aadhaar is very, very secure'

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, April 5, 2017

10967 - 'Show me even one example of data theft. Aadhaar is very, very secure' - TNN

'Show me even one example of data theft. Aadhaar is very, very secure'

Asha Rai | TNN | Apr 2, 2017, 12.00 AM IST

Aadhaar is in the eye of a storm following the government's decision to link it to everything from PAN cards to driving licences. Issues about privacy and data breach have been raised. In an interview, Nandan Nilekani , former chairman of UIDAI and the father of Aadhaar, tells Asha Rai that he is all for privacy and data protection but against the attempt to demonise Aadhaar. Excerpts:

What's with the new momentum to Aadhaar? A host of new services are being linked to it.

Initially Aadhaar played a big role in streamlining benefit delivery — LPG, kerosene, pensions, scholarships, etc — which proved to be very successful. For an investment of about Rs 8,000/9,000 crore on Aadhar infrastructure, the government has already saved Rs 50,000 crore by its own estimate, and every year you will get savings. These savings can then be used to give genuine people more benefits like the Ujjwala scheme to give subsidised LPG to the poor. What's happened in the last few weeks — they are a few unrelated things but they all came together.

First, the Supreme Court asked the government to come up with a proper verification strategy for mobile SIM cards and the government's answer was Aadhaar e-KYC which the SC accepted.

For PAN cards, the basic idea is to ensure everybody has one PAN card. Today, we have 25 crore PAN numbers issued and only four crore taxpayers. Some are genuine cards but many others are duplicate PANs. Today, because you have to give your PAN number for high-value purchase, you can use one PAN number to file your IT returns and another to buy expensive bags and jewellery.

In the IPO allotment, people use multiple PANs to get more shares allotted. Aadhaar was used to clean up the beneficiary list for government schemes. Using the same argument, if it's linked, duplicate PANs will go away and tax evasion will reduce. The issue with driving licences is again their multiplicity. In all these cases, Aadhaar is being used to eliminate various kinds of fraud and misuse.

Is the government running too fast with Aadhaar?

The government is moving very purposefully. The fact also is that maturity has come. A brand new, sophisticated platform like this takes several years to reach maturity. When I stepped down we had 60 crore people with Aadhaar. Now there are 110 crore.

Issues about privacy and data protection are a huge concern...

Let's just step back a bit. Privacy is an all-encompassing issue because of the rapid rate of digitisation the world is seeing. Your smartphone has sensors, GPS and is generating more and more information about everything; voice-activated devices could also be recording your conversations. There's a profusion of CCTV cameras at malls, restaurants, ATMs recording your movements. We have a broader issue on how people retain their privacy in this world. I am all for a comprehensive data protection and privacy law.

I wrote a letter to Dr Manmohan Singh in 2010 saying that we should start the process of creating this law. To single out and demonise Aadhaar when we have an across-the-board issue with mobile phones, voice recognition systems, CCTV cameras, Internet of things (IoT), I think that is a motivated campaign.

International companies are coming here and collecting data. People are giving their data, agreeing to terms and conditions which are quite one-sided, that data is sitting in some unaccounted server abroad and is being shared with foreign governments. How come nobody is talking about that?

If you really want a privacy law, let's look at the whole thing. Why are you singling out one thing? I will support any effort to create a modern privacy and data protection law.

How secure is Aadhaar data?

Very secure. The agency collecting the data has no access to it as it uses the most advanced encryption technology. The data packet is encrypted at source. Even before the data you have given is written onto the disk, it is encrypted. You can't open it. It's a very, very secure system. The level of encryption that Aadhaar has is way above any other system today, including in the private sector. Plus, security keeps getting enhanced.

Nobody has given me a single example of data theft from Aadhaar. Show me one. Let someone say they took out this packet and opened it. He can't. It's all this hand-waving kind of stuff. I can categorically say that it's the most secure system in India and among the most secure systems in the world.

Top Comment

I agree with Nandan sir's claim about data packet security and encryption at source . The concern is usage of this data while linking to Bank accounts and other PAN card as these interfacing systems ... Read More

Satish Kulkarni

Aadhaar is getting a lot of global attention...

Yes. It has got a lot of appreciation. Globally, identity as a public good is now becoming a big topic. In the West, the identity business was privatised. That's a much more unsafe model than when a government issues an ID. Our colonised guys don't understand this!