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 13, 2017

11038 - Iris recognition to accelerate Aadhar's impact: Tamaal Roy - Computer World

Iris recognition to accelerate Aadhar's impact: Tamaal Roy

By Sejuti Das Apr 11Th 2017

Tamaal Roy of Biomatiques discusses the loopholes in authentication methods and why iris recognition matters in the age of Aadhar. 

The increasing importance of creating a digital identity has taken the authentication process to a different level altogether. With the majority of Indian organizations facing challenges with data security, biometrics authentication provides one of the most secure ways of collecting, identifying and utilizing that data. Of the various biometric technologies, iris recognition is considered to be the most trusted form of identity authentication.

A Surat-based company, Biomatiques, claims to be a torchbearer of iris recognition technology. It is the first Indian company to receive the Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) for their iris scanners from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

The company is one of the 13 global players who have patented technology in this arena. On this note, Tamaal Roy, CEO, Biomatiques Identification Solutions describes the technology gap in today's authentication methods and how iris recognition is gaining prominence in the biometric market of India.

Edited Excerpts
What are the changing trends in the India biometrics market as compared to the global regions?
The rising concern about data security has resulted in the increase in demand for biometrics. The initiatives taken by the government of India to adopt biometrics systems for the purpose of identification and verification are fuelling the growth of this market. Use of biometrics in ecommerce and cloud computing solutions are also the key opportunity areas.
We are witnessing a sharp rise in the adoption and acceptance of this technology. In fact, many government offices and shops in the country have introduced Aadhaar enabled biometric systems to either mark their employees’ attendance or verification of an individual.
We have successfully supplied 33,310 biometrics scanners to the government of Andhra Pradesh, which has been implemented for pension and ration distribution. We believe Aadhar will soon be a reality in all walks of life, from digital transactions to government dealings.
Globally, the consumer market is the largest adopter of iris technology followed by government, healthcare, finance, NGOs, law enforcement and defense. Reports also indicate that some of the largest used cases include consumer device authentication, pharmacy dispensing, cashpoint/automated teller machine (ATM) access, aid distribution and fraud reduction.
How do you see iris recognition gaining momentum in a market like India?
More than 70 percent of the Indian population is labor class, which means constant manual labor using bare hands. This creates a possibility of fingerprint change due to cuts, bruises and wrinkles as many of them do not wear any protective gear. Such issues create problems when you have to use a fingerprint scanner, as many times the image does not match with the saved data.
Aadhaar-based initiatives, other public services and government's welfare schemes that use iris technology are gradually changing the security system infrastructure of the country.
However, while all features, organs and limbs in a body can undergo changes on a regular basis, eyes remain same from the time of your birth till death. Hence, iris scanning proves to be one of the most accurate forms of biometric identification, with a False Acceptance Rate (FAR) of 1:12 million, which is unmatched by any other biometric modality.
Iris technology is easy, cheap, fast and extremely accurate, and therefore provides secure transactions and ease of convenience to all classes of people. It also goes several steps beyond the safeguarding of pins, passwords and cards, which have the danger of being copied or stolen. If reports are to be believed, worldwide iris recognition technology market is expected to increase to USD 4.1 billion by 2025.
What are the innovative products and solutions you have for the Indian market?
Currently, we have a flagship product model—EPI-1000—for any Aadhaar enabled service, which provides iris images of exceptional quality for both enrolment and verification. Apart from that, we have several prototype iris scanners that are available for different businesses in different verticals.
We are aggressively focusing on a growth plan, considering the existing market for the delivery of government schemes using Aadhaar enabled services. We are also aligning with several system integrators to develop accurate iris biometric-based identification solutions for the government, BFSI, telecom, automobile and education sector.
How is iris technology going to change the face of the security infrastructure of the country?
Currently, iris technology is the best authentication process available. The technology is usually mistaken as a simple retinal scan, but it actually involves image processing authentication which uses unique patterns that are formed in the iris as a means of identification. Therefore, no two human beings can have the same iris pattern whatsoever.
The Aadhaar-based initiatives, other public services government's welfare schemes that use iris technology are gradually changing the security system infrastructure of the country. It is now being deployed for large scale applications in government supported projects.
Further, iris biometric technology can help practitioners in retrieving medical documents of patients without any gaps and delays. Also, it can be used for security checks at airports and borders.
What is the scope of iris technology in e-governance in India?
We believe iris technology has a humungous scope in e-governance application services such as passport, taxation, healthcare and education. This technology is aimed to strengthen government programs such as Jan-Dhan Yojana and E-Citizen services under the Digital India initiative.
It also has a wide range of applications in government’s initiatives like MNREGA schemes, public distribution system, direct benefit transfer and pension. The technology has already been implemented by the Andhra Pradesh government and we are expecting other state governments to come forward and leverage this revolutionary technology.
Iris recognition could also be used in other government-to-citizen services such as certification, registration, licensing and ID cards, where citizen authentication is imperative in order to control, mitigate and freeze loopholes.


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