AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 12421 - Aadhaar leaks: Should the government pause and fix the problem before forcing it on us?

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, November 24, 2017

12421 - Aadhaar leaks: Should the government pause and fix the problem before forcing it on us? - Times Now

Aadhaar leaks: Should the government pause and fix the problem before forcing it on us?

Updated: Nov 22, 2017 | 01:57 IST | Mirror Now Digital

Amidst a tug of war between the central government and its critics over the validity and omnipresence of the Aadhaar program, UIDAI has revealed that more than 200 central and state government websites publicly displayed details such as names and addresses of some Aadhaar beneficiaries.

In its response to an RTI query, the body responsible for issuing and supervising the Aadhaar identity program added that it took note of the breach and got the data removed from the websites in question.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), however, did not specify when the breach took place. Security audits are conducted on a regular basis to further strengthen the security and privacy of data, said the body.

All possible steps have been taken to make the data safer and protected, the authority added.

Also See: eLocation: How the government is planning to digitally map your addresses

Various policies and procedures have been defined, these are reviewed and updated continually thereby appropriately controlling and monitoring any movement of people, material and data in and out of UIDAI premises, particularly the data centres, the UIDAI said.

Recently, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy opposed the move to make Aadhaar compulsory, saying it would be a threat to national security and should be struck down by the Supreme Court. Swamy said in a tweet he would write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue.

The Supreme Court on November 3 sought the government's response to four petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar Act and linking of bank accounts and mobile numbers with the 12-digit biometric identification number.

While the government has extended the deadline for linking PAN with biometric identifier Aadhaar by four months to December 31, the Aadhaar-Mobile SIM linking should be completed by February 6, under e-KYC verification, the Centre told the Supreme Court.

Aadhaar number has to be provided for all social security schemes by December 31, 2017. In order to avail pension, LPG cylinders or government scholarships, one must provide his or her Aadhaar card details.

"Is Aadhaar good for us? Perhaps, it is.

Should we all come on board and support it? Perhaps, we should.

Should we all pool all our resources into one bucket? Perhaps, we should.

But is there a massive hole in that bucket? Yes. What the government needs to do is say 'stop, let's fix the holes in the bucket and then we'll continue to put all of our data in it and that's all we're saying. We're not saying we're against it, we're not against the linking or transparency - I believe that it would be fantastic if the people who truly deserved the help from the government got it and those who've been leaking money out of our systems, if not caught are at least prevented," said Faye D'Souza regarding the Aadhaar debate.

However, the Aadhaar bucket at this point is a sieve, a channi. We keep putting more and more date into it and it is leaking. Unless we stop and fix the problem, we will end up making a greater mess of things than when we started. Experts on the Urban Debate have said that the entire database should be re-verified if the government has to but unless the information is safe, the government needs to stop imposing this on us.