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

Saturday, April 8, 2017

10991 - Who will own your data when your electronic health records are linked to Aadhaar? - Scroll.In

IDENTITY PROJECT

Who will own your data when your electronic health records are linked to Aadhaar?

The draft health privacy law will be made public to invite comments in the coming weeks, government officials say.
Anumeha Yadav  &  Menaka Rao

Published Apr 05, 2017.  


Anumeha Yadav

After making Aadhaar necessary to access a number of services, the government is now ready to start linking health records to the biometrics-based identity number system. In October 2016, Scroll. in reported that officials from the Ministry of Health and Family Affairs had started collecting Aadhaar numbers of those seeking treatment at government hospitals and medical colleges.

“Patients’ Aadhaar numbers will be linked to a second health ID and these will be used in electronic health records,” said Sunil Sharma, joint secretary with the health ministry. “Government facilities in Haryana, Telangana are already collecting Aadhaar numbers from patients. This will allow continuity of care when patients go to a facility and the records can be shared electronically. This will avoid duplication.”

The health records will contain all the information related to the patient including name, address, and the health records produced during his or her visit to the hospital such as X-ray reports, blood test reports among others.

As health records contain sensitive information, the health ministry awarded a contract to the National Law School of India University in February 2016 to draft a law guaranteeing privacy and confidentiality of health data in electronic health records. The legal sub-group within the health ministry discussed the initial draft with the legal experts from the university in June 2016, and the draft legislation was submitted to the ministry in July 2016.

The National Law School of India University faculty experts have since then submitted two revised drafts of the proposed law, including one which was discussed with the health ministry’s legal subgroup last month.

Ministry officials and legal experts say a fundamental question that remains unresolved is that of who will own the data – the individual or the government. Ownership of the data implies control over the data.

“The NLSIU shared a draft a few weeks back and we sent it back as the draft is very focused on individuals’ privacy,” said Sharma. “Yes, patients will have the right to access their records and give consent for sharing. But after the records have been anonymised, they will also be used for big data analytics. The right to use the data has to be there with the government.”
The use of data could include epidemiological analysis related to disease outbreaks, for instance.
The current draft of the law provides civil and criminal remedies to individuals for breach of data. It provides for correcting data, but does not provide a right to individuals to get any data deleted from their records.

The final draft of the law is expected to be made public for public comments in the coming weeks, said Sharma.

Collecting health data
The Aadhaar Act says demographic information collected under Aadhaar Act will not include “medical history”.
demographic information includes information relating to the name, date of birth, address and other relevant information of an individual, as may be specified by regulations for the purpose of issuing an Aadhaar number, but shall not include race, religion, caste, tribe, ethnicity, language, records of entitlement, income or medical history.
— Section 2(k), Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits, and Services) Act 2016.
The Unique Identity Authority of India, the agency that enrolls residents in Aadhaar and manages the database, is not empowered to collect information on residents’ medical history. However, the new law on health privacy that is tentatively titled “Electronic Health Data Privacy, Confidentiality and Privacy in India” will provide for collecting Aadhaar numbers linked to medical records.
The National Health Policy published earlier in March had also states that the government will be “exploring the use of “Aadhaar” (Unique ID) for identification” and “creation of registries (i.e. patients, provider, service, diseases, document and event) for enhanced public health/big data analytics, creation of health information exchange platform.”
Some government websites instruct patients to link Aadhaar numbers to their medical data.
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