AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 12795 - Telangana agencies bank on 'tainted' startup for Aadhaar services

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, January 27, 2018

12795 - Telangana agencies bank on 'tainted' startup for Aadhaar services - Times of India

Telangana agencies bank on 'tainted' startup for Aadhaar services

U Sudhakar Reddy | CCIALIVEAR | Updated: Jan 27, 2018, 05:31 IST

HYDERABAD: Despite the Delhi Police booking a cheating case based on a complaint from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) against a Hyderabad-based and seven other IT startup companies, Telangana government agencies like the Hyderabad Police and JNTU-H have been utilising the services of the city-based startup.

Based on UIDAI's complaint in April 2017, Delhi cops had booked a case of cheating and criminal breach of trust against Hyderabad IT startup Syntizen Technologies and 7 other firms that are located elsewhere in the country. The charge was that these firms had hosted an unofficial website rendering Aadhaar services.

UIDAI held that the website www.aadhaarupdate.com operated by Syntizen offering Aadhaar-related services was unauthorised. The other sites included aadhaarindia.com , pvcaadhaar.in , aadhaarprinters.com, geteaadhaar.com, downloadaadhaarcard.in, aadhaarcopy.in , and duplicateaadhaarcard.com .

Hyderabad police & JNTU-H using services of tainted Syntizen

UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey then revealed that the websites and companies running them were booked under the IT Act, Section 38 of Aadhaar Act 2016, and Section 409 (criminal breach of trust) and Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code.

Even as the case is being investigated, several Telangana government bodies like Hyderabad Police and JNTU-H are utilising the services of the startup company in question for Aadhaar-enabled services like attendance system.

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Claiming that it has a valid Sub Authentication User Agency Licence, Syntizen has denied any wrongdoing. "Syntizen is a startup company in the business of Aadhaar. We provide Aadhaar Services to different organizations by helping them to authenticate their customers using UIDAI Ecosystem. We do not have any information about the FIR. We have not received any communication neither from UIDAI nor from any other authority so far. We firmly believe that our actions are as per rules and we have not violated any of them," the Syntizen Admin Team responded to TOIin an email.

Sources said the case of Syntizen differs from other websites which were booked. "Syntizen has a Sub AUA licence from National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) and Central Depository Services (India) limited. UIDAI in May 2016 issued a notification asking for Authentication User Agencies AUAs to offer mobile update services. Following the mandatory notification, the company developed aadharupdate.com website and started updating mobile phone numbers and email addresses of the Aadhaar holders. The company had shown a demonstration to UIDAI in Delhi and Bengaluru. However, in March 2017, UIDAI told the firm to stop the services due to various reasons. Immediately, Syntizen stopped the services. But the reports of complaint and FIR against the website surfaced. Based on this, Syntizen had sought information regarding the UIDAI complaint and FIR but has not received any information so far," said sources.

TOP COMMENT

When Everyone top to bottom is tainted one way or the or the other.. it really doesnt matter

Arey O Sambha

Syntizen submitted a representation to UIDAI stating that its name may have been mistakenly added with other websites as they are licenced and have been offering services as per notification. The firm also cited the email communication between UIDAI and the company regarding updating and even instances of updating of information of UIDAI officials. Other firms were printing plastic cards of entire Aadhaar, but Syntizen is into authentication of services.