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, December 29, 2017

12568 - Facebook asks new users to enter names ‘as per Aadhaar’ while signing up - Hindustan Times

Facebook asks new users to enter names ‘as per Aadhaar’ while signing up

Facebook says the new feature is aimed at encouraging users to enter their real names while signing up.

TECH Updated: Dec 27, 2017 15:37 Ist
Kul Bhushan 
Hindustan Times

Well, we did see this coming.(AFP)

Facebook is testing a new feature in India wherein it is encouraging new users to enter their names as per their Aadhaar card.

The move is aimed at encouraging users to put their real names on the social network. Since it’s being tested with a small population in India, not all users may be able to see this. It is worth pointing out here that the Aadhaar-based sign up is not mandatory.

Facebook confirmed that it is indeed testing such feature.
“We want to make sure people can use the names they’re known by on Facebook, and can easily connect with friends and family. This is a small test where we provide additional language when people sign up for an account to say that using the name on their Aadhaar card makes it easier for friends to recognise them. This is an optional prompt which we are testing. People are not required to enter the name on their Aadhaar card,” said a Facebook spokesperson.

Note that Facebook isn’t asking for your Aadhaar number, but just the name as per your Aadhaar card.

The association with Aadhaar, however, is expected to raise eyebrows. There have been concerns about the safety of Aadhaar data after private details of citizens were leaked on government websites and from private bodies like banks, telecom operators, insurance providers and financial organisations.

According to a government reply in Parliament in June 2017, more than 200 government websites published names of beneficiaries of welfare schemes with their addresses and Aadhaar numbers.

The government has argued that Aaadhar is necessary to plug leakages in its subsidised welfare programmes, to prevent corruption, and to protect national security.

Earlier, several users on Reddit and Twitter posted messages about Facebook’s new feature. Some users, however, claim this feature was being tested since a longer time.

“FB actually does it for a long time now. India is new in this maybe. But they ask for photo ID like driver licence/passport/some others. They even ask for you to upload your real photo (by opening front camera) for verification (if your dp isn’t),” claimed a user on Reddit.

“Any data is useful data . Maybe not now but in future. And I’m sure FB already has internal profiles in which they wrote entire persons’ data like name address phone number aadhaar number etc,” said another user while responding to a query whether Facebook has access to Aadhaar details.

27 Dec
vasundhar
@vasundhar
Replying to @jackerhack and 4 others
Conspiracy wasn’t the intention , but the power of data and lack of any provision to safeguard it. But let’s hope the discussions happen and we get to safer and better system

Kiran Jonnalagadda
✔
@jackerhack

How hard is it?

1. Facebook has a longstanding real names policy.

2. The average Indian’s understanding of real name is what they give for Aadhaar or their bank account.

3. An Aadhaar card is meant to be id proof, unlike a bank account.

See? No conspiracy involved.
4:42 PM - Dec 27, 2017

saumya thakkar
@ThakkarSaumya

With the number of fake profiles around its hightime tht the government should ask people to link thr aadhar card with thr facebook and instagram account @narendramodi ji please consider this #Aadhaar #pan #31stdecember 
5:43 PM - Dec 27, 2017
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