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

Sunday, April 29, 2018

13398 - 2 Days, 3 Leaks: Who Needs To Break 'The 5 Ft Thick Wall' Of Uidai If Aadhaar Data Is Available Online? - INC42

The Data Leak Revealed Sensitive Details Including A Person's Aadhaar Number, Bank Branch, IFSC Code, Account Number, Caste, Address And Other Details
April 27, 2018 3 min read
INC42 STAFF

In the times of Facebook’s apology over trust breach, Cambridge Analytica’s dirty data games and the EU and the UK bolstering data privacy and protecting by replacing the 1995 directive with a new strong law – GDPR, UIDAI chose to turn a blind eye over the never-ending Aadhaar data leaks.
Unlike Facebook which immediately offered its sincere apology and other private companies like Cambridge Analytica which even suspended its own chief amid data leaks, UIDAI while initially firmly fought against Indians’ right to privacy in the Supreme Court, later issued a bizarre clarification in the court that the Aadhaar data is protected by 13 Ft high and 5 Ft thick walls.

However, the bizarre clarification and the UIDAI decision to add another layer of Virtual ID security to Aadhaar, yet again, succumbed to the latest massive data leak revelation exposed recently on Twitter.

In contrast to the tall UIDAI claims, another Aadhaar whistleblower Srinivas Kodali published the screenshots of Aadhaar data details of MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) beneficiaries.

RELATED STORIES:

Suggesting a data leak of 8.9 Mn, the scale is much higher than  Facebook’s effected data leak in India. The data leak also revealed details such as a person’s Aadhaar number, bank branch, IFSC code, account number, father’s name, address, Panchayat, mobile number, ration card number, occupation, religion and caste, on its website Andhra Pradesh Benefit Disbursement Portal.

After the expose, the website has started masking the data.

In the last two days, Srinivas has taken UIDAI on a ride, exposing three big massive Aadhaar leaks back-to-back.


A day earlier, Andhra Pradesh State Housing Corporation website in its data list titled ‘Beneficiary Details belonging to Entry Report for Scheme Hudhud’ had published the Aadhaar data of 134K people.

In another latest revelation, Srinivas has further claimed that around 69,83,048 children’s Aadhaar data is available online. Publishing the screenshots of the same, Srinivas yet again has questioned, “Who is responsible to protect their privacy – Govt, parents, teachers or SC?”

“The first leak I reported was the children’s Aadhaar detail available online, way back in February, 2017. The UIDAI has never acknowledged the leak and sees no problem with the leak.”

Earlier, the Tribune had published how a Rajasthan government’s portal login and password were on sale to access Aadhaar details. The UIDAI, in contrast of issuing an apology, had in fact went on to register an FIR against the journalist.
Interestingly, while the Indian government has expressed dissatisfaction over the “cryptic responses” shared by Facebook and Cambridge Analytica pertaining to the data breach, it has not even questioned or issued any such notice to its own organisation UIDAI, responsible for the Aadhaar data protection across the country.

On April 25, while hearing the Aadhaar case, the SC reproached the Indian government for invoking Supreme Court’s name while asking people to link Aadhaar with their mobile number. To which, the UIDAI lawyer Rakesh Dwivedi accepted the fact that there was no Supreme Court order making it compulsory to link Aadhaar with mobile phone numbers.

It’s worth noting that Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister of Law, on September 10, 2017, had tweeted, “Yes, you need to link your mobile number with Aadhaar as directed by the SC.”


Note: We at Inc42 take our ethics very seriously. More information about it can be found here.