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

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

13418 - For $30, Anyone Can Add Or Edit Entries In India's Creepy National Biometric ID Database, This Report Says - Buzz Feed

For $30, Anyone Can Add Or Edit Entries In India's Creepy National Biometric ID Database, This Report Says

Critics say the exploit has major national security implications.
Posted on May 1, 2018, at 7:14 p.m.

Pranav Dixit
BuzzFeed News Reporter



Saumya Khandelwal / Reuters
A man goes through the process of eye scanning for the Unique Identification (UID) database system, also known as Aadhaar, at a registration centre in New Delhi, India.

Compromised copies of a computer program used to enroll more than a billion Indians into Aadhaar, the country’s controversial biometric ID program, are being sold to anyone who wants them for $30 or less, according to a new report from Asia Times on Tuesday.
The program was used by private contractors to scan in and upload personal details including names, addresses, dates of birth, mobile numbers, fingerprints, and irises of Indians to a centralized, government-owned database, as long as the contractors authenticated themselves first.
The compromised version reportedly bypasses this requirement, letting anyone with access to the program add new entries to the Aadhaar database or modify their own existing entry with no checks. It also bypasses a mandatory GPS check, used to ensure that new signups are done at secure, officially mandated locations.
The Unique Identification Authority of India, the agency in charge of the Aadhaar program, did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News’ request for comment.
The Aadhaar national ID program, which was initially pitched as a voluntary identity system that would help the government crack down on fraud in the country’s corrupt welfare system, has been called out by critics for its ability to turn the country into a surveillance state and violate the privacy of India’s 1.3 billion citizens.
The program is currently being challenged in India’s Supreme Court, but that hasn’t stopped the government from coercing people to sign up by linking it to essential services such as food subsidies, bank accounts, health insurance, and cellphone numbers.
Allowing anybody with access to compromised software to create new entries in the Aadhaar database with no authentication has major national security implications, critics warn.
“The entries in the Aadhaar database are considered so trustworthy that they are used to open bank accounts, get new cellphone connections, and even new passports,” Anand V, a security researcher and a critic of the Aadhaar program, told BuzzFeed News.
“If anyone can add entries to the database or modify existing entries that belong to them through bypassing the mandatory security checks required to do this, it strikes right at the heart of the Aadhaar program, which is based around identity.”
This isn’t the first time that vulnerabilities in the Aadhaar program have been discovered. In January, the Tribune, a local Indian newspaper, was able to exploit a breach to access the private data of nearly 1.2 billion Indians from the database for just $8. And in March, a ZDNet report showed that a data leak on a system run by a state-owned utility company in India allowed anyone to download private information of every Aadhaar holder in India including their names, bank details, and cellphone numbers.

India's National ID Database With Private Information Of Nearly 1.2 Billion People Was Reportedly Breached
buzzfeed.com


India’s National ID Program May Be Turning The Country Into A Surveillance State
buzzfeed.com


Airbnb, Uber, And Ola Are Considering Using India’s Creepy National ID Database
buzzfeed.com



Pranav Dixit is a tech reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in Delhi.

Contact Pranav Dixit at pranav.dixit@buzzfeed.com.

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