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, April 17, 2018

13301 - India's Aadhaar database and the challenges of reporting it Why covering the world's largest biometric database comes with huge risks for Indian journalists. - Al Jazeera

India's Aadhaar database and the challenges of reporting it
Why covering the world's largest biometric database comes with huge risks for Indian journalists.


15 Apr 2018 10:37 GMT Media, India, Privacy & Surveillance, Science & Technology, Narendra Modi

In January 2018, a local paper in the western Indian state of Punjab, The Tribune, published an article revealing that the private details of millions of Indians - gathered under the Aadhaar scheme - could be bought, cheap.

Aadhaar, a nationwide identity programme that is run by the Indian government, is the world's largest biometric identification system. The programme is the keystone in an ambitious plan to digitise India's economy and to make the distribution of state welfare more efficient.

It took over a decade to design and roll out, and more than 1.2 billion Indians have already signed up to it. But it's been dogged by legal challenges and questions over privacy.

Aadhaar is more dangerous [than Facebook], because it's essentially a disproportionate amount of data in the hands of the state. They're connecting things like traffic violations, property records, and land holding size, religion and caste, which is data which should not be linked to and collected and used by the state.

Nikhil Pahwa, founder and editor, Medianama
Despite news reports raising legitimate questions about data privacy and identity theft, the government body in charge of it, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), insists that Aadhaar is secure.

Just days after The Tribune correspondent Rachna Khaira's data breach report was published, UIDAI filed a police complaint against her.

"I have been accused of hatching a conspiracy, I have been charged under Section 419, 420, 468, and 471, that pertains to cheating, impersonation, dishonesty, forgery, Section 36 and 37 of the Aadhaar Act, that is having unauthorised access to the database I have been accused, and now I am on the fugitive list of the Delhi Police," says Rachna Khaira.

"All I wanted was to highlight these concerns. I am depressed to see how officials instead of, paying concerns to the issues which I have raised in my story - they have made me a story," Khaira says.

The UIDAI's official line on data security has been that the reporting is inaccurate, overblown and misleading. However, many journalists say that dealing with the UIDAI is problematic, that officials there are elusive and often unavailable for comment.

"I would say that Aadhaar is more dangerous [than Facebook], because it's essentially a disproportionate amount of data in the hands of the state," explains Nikhil Pahwa, founding and editor of Medianama. "They're connecting things like traffic violations, property records, and land-holding size, religion and caste, which is data which should not be linked to and collected and used by the state. So, I think the risks are substantially greater in terms of misuse of this data."

But Zoheb Hossain, the lawyer representing UIDAI, says, "I think the two domains are extremely different and disparate. Facebook has far more personally sensitive information about you and me than Aadhaar. Aadhaar has very little information about you. Aadhaar is only a tool to match your identity and say that 'yes, you are who you claim to be.'"

Journalists covering the Aadhaar story are having to tread carefully. Two months after that Tribune report was published, the editor of the paper resigned. He gave no reason, but sources at the paper said the pressure on him after the Aadhaar expose was huge.

Contributors:
Rachna Khaira, reporter, The Tribune
Zoheb Hossain, lawyer for UIDAI
Nikhil Pahwa, founder and editor, MediaNama
Srinivas Kodali, cybersecurity specialist
Source: Al Jazeera News
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