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

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

13111 - ModiApp Leaks - The Lid Finally Lifts! No place to hide

The Lid Finally Lifts! No place to hide: After Indian Express, BBC and NDTV Report on NaMo App Sharing Personal Data, Collected also through Coercion, with (or Selling to?) a Third Party in the US without Consent of the Persons Concerned


I. <<*Indian PM Narendra Modi's official mobile application has been criticised for sending personal user data to a third party without their consent.*
A security researcher had tweeted that the app was sending personal user data to a third-party domain that was traced to a US company.>>

(Excerpted from sl. no. II. below.)

II. <app of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,
downloaded over five million times on Android alone, sent user data to a US-based company without consent, security researchers have found in claims that were verified by NDTV. Allegations against the Narendra Modi app, which have sparked a furore on social media and biting criticism from Congress President Rahul Gandhi, come at a time of heightened sensitivity around the alleged misuse of personal data amid the unfolding Facebook-Cambridge Analytica controversy.
...
Alderson, who initially pointed out that the application, popularly known as NaMo app in India, was sharing data with a third party without the consent of users, earlier on Sunday posted a new tweet saying the app had "quietly" updated its privacy policy after his previous tweets.

NDTV checked the claims, consulting experts and using a popular tool called Burp Suite. The findings showed that as a user kept entering personal information such as name, email address, gender and city, the data was being shared with the website in.wzrkt.com.>>

(Excerpted from sl. no. I. below.)

III. <<***Students enrolled in the National Cadet Corps (NCC) programme in the state are being asked to install the official app of Narendra Modi on their phones*** [emphasis added] ahead of a planned interaction with the prime minister in March.

Schools and colleges, which are affiliated with the programme, started informing the students this week after receiving a directive from Mumbai-based ‘1 Maharashtra Naval Unit NCC’.
The letter addressed to principals and associate NCC officers, who manage the cadets’ training, reads: “…***Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has desired a direct interaction with maximum cadets of NCC*** emphasis added]. This is feasible by downloading ‘Narendra Modi App’ in the cell phones of the cadets. Mid-March has been fixed for inviting the questions, queries and suggestions from the cadets via ‘Modi App’ directly to the PM (sic).”

The missive, sent on February 26, ***asks schools and colleges to share, by Wednesday, a list of all NCC cadets, their mobile numbers and email addresses. In case, the cadets don’t have a phone, their parents’ numbers should be mentioned*** [emphasis added]. The nominal roll, as the list is called, will also include a “remarks column”.
“This matter should be treated as very urgent,” the letter states.>>

(Excerpted from: <https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/other/ten-hut-cadets-should-get-namo-app-schools-told/articleshow/63103092.cms>.)

IV. <the privacy policy on PM Narendra Modi’s website has quietly been changed to accommodate for this lapse.
A screenshot of the present policy can be seen below.
...
Till a day before the exposé, the privacy policy on the website read as, “Your personal information and contact details shall remain confidential and shall not be used for any purpose other than our communication with you. The information shall not be provided to third parties in any manner whatsoever without your consent.”
A screenshot of the same can be seen below.>>

(Excerpted from: <https://www.altnews.in/after-namo-app-expose-privacy-policy-on-narendra-modis-website-makes-a-quiet-u-turn/>.
***An excellent dissection of the Operation Cover-up***.)]

I/II.
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/narendra-modi-app-sends-user-data-to-us-firm-congress-app-too-says-bjp-1828578

Narendra Modi App Sends User Data To US Firm. Congress App Too, Says BJP
The privacy policy of the Narendra Modi app was updated after criticism mounted on social media over the unauthorised use of user data.

All India | Written by Sukirti Dwivedi | 

Updated: March 26, 2018 12:33 IST
  
Narendra Modi App Sends User Data To US Firm. Congress App Too, Says BJP
Click to Play

The Narendra Modi app is promoted by the BJP as a one-stop channel for government achievements.

NEW DELHI:

HIGHLIGHTS
Security researcher said app was sharing user data without consent
NDTV verifies claim, finds data being sent to servers run by US firm
Privacy policy of app updated, BJP says Congress app shares data too

 The official mobile app of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, downloaded over five million times on Android alone, sent user data to a US-based company without consent, security researchers have found in claims that were verified by NDTV. Allegations against the Narendra Modi app, which have sparked a furore on social media and biting criticism from Congress President Rahul Gandhi, come at a time of heightened sensitivity around the alleged misuse of personal data amid the unfolding Facebook-Cambridge Analytica controversy.

The ruling BJP has denied the allegations and said the data was being used only for analytics to offer all users the "most contextual content". It also hit out at the Congress, saying the opposition party's app shared data with third parties without consent.

It was a security researcher, who has previously highlighted vulnerabilities in India's national identity card project Aadhaar and who tweets under the pseudonym Elliot Alderson, who first posted a series of messages on Twitter on Saturday stating the Narendra Modi app was sending personal user data to a third-party domain that was traced to an American company.

Alderson, who initially pointed out that the application, popularly known as NaMo app in India, was sharing data with a third party without the consent of users, earlier on Sunday posted a new tweet saying the app had "quietly" updated its privacy policy after his previous tweets.

NDTV checked the claims, consulting experts and using a popular tool called Burp Suite. The findings showed that as a user kept entering personal information such as name, email address, gender and city, the data was being shared with the website in.wzrkt.com.

narendra modi app data
The email address "hello@world.com" entered during registration was sent to in.wzrkt.com

During the entire process of registration the user is never informed or asked permission for sending data to a third party - a procedure which is usually followed by most apps.

NDTV found that the domain in.wzrkt.com belonged to a company called WizRocket Inc which is registered in California and the data is being sent to a server in Mumbai. WizRocket is a data analytics platform developed by a US-based company called CleverTap.

narendra modi app us company
The Narendra Modi app shares user with a server registered to WizRocket Inc. in California.

CleverTap's website says it is as a mobile marketing platform that "visually builds and delivers omnichannel campaigns based on user behavior, location and lifecycle stage". The company was founded in 2013 by three Indians and has offices in several cities in USA and Indian offices are in Mumbai, New Delhi and Bengaluru.

The link, earlier pointed out by Alderson and fact-checking website AltNews, sponsored an attack by Rahul Gandhi who tweeted, "Hi! My name is Narendra Modi. I am India's Prime Minister. When you sign up for my official App, I give all your data to my friends in American companies. Ps. Thanks mainstream media, you're doing a great job of burying this critical story, as always."

Stung by mounting criticism on social media, the BJP admitted that it was sharing information but that this was par for the course. The BJP's official Twitter handle tweeted, "Contrary to Rahul's lies , fact is that data is being used for only analytics using third party service, similar to Google Analytics. Analytics on the user data is done for offering the most contextual content."

Amit Malviya, the chief of BJP's IT operations, also attacked Rahul Gandhi and Congress, alleging similar privacy and consent conflicts.
10h

Amit Malviya
✔
@malviyamit
Hi! My name is Rahul Gandhi. I am the President of India’s oldest political party. When you sign up for our official App, I give all your data to my friends in Singapore. pic.twitter.com/ceCTkod17D


Amit Malviya
✔
@malviyamit
Full marks to @INCIndia for stating upfront that they'll give your data to **practically anyone** - undisclosed vendors, unknown volunteers, even 'groups with similar causes'. In theft of all forms, Congress has never been discreet! pic.twitter.com/FCSIv6nPMn

8:13 AM - Mar 26, 2018
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The Congress, however, countered the claim.

Divya Spandana/Ramya
✔
@divyaspandana
We don’t collect any personal data through the INC app. We discontinued it a long time ago. It was being used only for social media updates. 
We collect data for membership and this is through our website http://www.INC.in , this is encrypted. https://twitter.com/pranesh/status/978092007250788352 …

8:20 AM - Mar 26, 2018
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Experts say that data shared with political parties is prone to misuse. Srinivas Kodali, a cybersecurity expert said, "It can be misused by sharing with private companies like Cambridge Analytica which could build voter profiles of volunteers who are active through the Narendra Modi application."

The BJP's response, however, did not appear to address the crucial issue of consent. The privacy policy for the NaMo app, posted on the website narendramodi.in, until yesterday, read, "Your personal information and contact details shall remain confidential and shall not be used for any purpose other than our communication with you. The information shall not be provided to third parties in any manner whatsoever without your consent."

The backlash was also compounded by criticism over 13 lakh cadets of India's National Cadet Corps being asked to install the app and share phone numbers and email addresses with the Prime Minister's office.

As the controversy swelled, that policy was changed to say, "The following information may be processed by third party services to offer you a better experience as stated above: name, email, mobile phone number, device information, location and network carrier."

NDTV has contacted both the BJP IT cell as well as CleverTap for their responses and is yet to receive them. The story shall be updated once a response is received.

II.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-43538178

India PM Modi app sparks social media furore

5 hours ago

Image copyrightNARENDRA MODI APP

Indian PM Narendra Modi's official mobile application has been criticised for sending personal user data to a third party without their consent.

A security researcher had tweeted that the app was sending personal user data to a third-party domain that was traced to a US company.

Mr Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has denied the allegation.

The party said the data was being used only for analytics to offer all users the "most contextual content".

Narendra Modi app is 'like Tinder for good governance'
Narendra Modi app: Humour and praise on Twitter

The researcher, who tweets under the pseudonym Elliot Alderson, posted a series of tweets on Saturday stating Mr Modi's app was sending personal user data to a third party.

Skip Twitter post by @fs0c131y
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Elliot Alderson
@fs0c131y
When you create a profile in the official @narendramodi #Android app, all your device info (OS, network type, Carrier …) and personal data (email, photo, gender, name, …) are send without your consent to a third-party domain called http://in.wzrkt.com .

1:04 AM - Mar 24, 2018
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Elliot Alderson
@fs0c131y
Replying to @fs0c131y
After a quick search, this domain belongs to an American company called @CleverTap. According to their description, “#CleverTap is the next generation app engagement platform. It enables marketers to identify, engage and retain users and provides developers"

1:04 AM - Mar 24, 2018
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Elliot Alderson
@fs0c131y
Replying to @fs0c131y
.@narendramodi, I know privacy is not your thing but any thoughts about sharing the personal data of your users without their consent to a third-party company?

1:04 AM - Mar 24, 2018
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Rahul Gandhi, the chief of the the main opposition Congress party, took to Twitter on Sunday to criticise Mr Modi.

Skip Twitter post by @RahulGandhi

Rahul Gandhi
✔
@RahulGandhi
Hi! My name is Narendra Modi. I am India's Prime Minister. When you sign up for my official App, I give all your data to my friends in American companies. 

Ps. Thanks mainstream media, you're doing a great job of burying this critical story, as always.http://www.jantakareporter.com/india/data-theft-allegations-reaches-pm-modis-doorstep-french-vigilante-hackers-stunning-revelation/177957/ …

10:54 AM - Mar 25, 2018

Data theft allegations reaches PM Modi’s doorstep, French vigilante hacker’s stunning revelation

A French vigilante hacker has made a stunning revelation accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of having compromised the personal data of millions of Indians, who had downloaded his personal mobile...

jantakareporter.com
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End of Twitter post by @RahulGandhi

The BJP responded swiftly, saying Mr Gandhi was trying to divert attention.

Last week India's law and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said there were "numerous reports" of the Congress party's connections with controversial data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica.

He asked Mr Gandhi to "explain" the company's role in his social media outreach.

The opposition party has denied the charges.

Cambridge Analytica is embroiled in a storm over claims it exploited the data of millions of Facebook users.

Skip Twitter post by @BJP4India

BJP
✔
@BJP4India
Rahul Gandhi is in sublime form these days. After MRI & NCC, today he exposes his great knowledge about technology. He is so rattled by the Cambridge Analyitca expose that he daily tries to divert attention from it, yesterday it was the judiciary and today it is Namo App.

1:03 PM - Mar 25, 2018
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The party said the data from Mr Modi's app was being used for analytics:

Skip Twitter post 2 by @BJP4India

BJP
✔
@BJP4India
This ensures that a user gets the best experience by showing content in his language & interests. A person who looks up agri-related info will get agri related content easily. A person from TN will get updates in Tamil and get an update about an important initiative about TN.

1:07 PM - Mar 25, 2018
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The security researcher later posted a new tweet on Sunday saying Mr Modi's app had been "quietly" updated its privacy policy.

Skip Twitter post 4 by @fs0c131y

Elliot Alderson
@fs0c131y
After the NaMo #android app exposé yesterday, the privacy policy of @narendramodi has been change quietly. The cached version is accessible here http://web.archive.org/web/20180325053015/http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:37wMakar_CAJ:www.narendramodi.in/privacy-policy+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in …

3:29 PM - Mar 25, 2018
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Mr Modi launched his official app in 2015, adding another platform to his massive social media presence.


He is among the five most popular politicians on Twitter with 41.4 million followers.
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