AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 13447 - Karnataka police share Aadhaar details of housing scam victims on website

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

Thursday, May 3, 2018

13447 - Karnataka police share Aadhaar details of housing scam victims on website - TNN

Karnataka police share Aadhaar details of housing scam victims on website

Kiran Parashar | TNN | May 3, 2018, 06:19 IST

BENGALURU: Even while the security and privacy of data secured by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) under its Aadhaar project is being questioned, Karnataka police have shared personal details — including Aadhaar numbers — of victims of the Gruha Kalyan housing scam on an open network.

TOI noticed that personal details such as names, addresses, contact numbers and Aadhaar numbers apart from other details of 1,157 complainants — the victims of the estimated Rs 79 crore scam —have been uploaded on a police website, and were available until the time of going to the press on Wednesday. Also listed were PAN numbers of complainants alongside the sums they had paid and the moneys refunded.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is investigating the scam which came to light in 2016. Officers probing the case had claimed the accused had floated companies such as Dreamz Infra India Ltd and Gruha Kalyan Private Limited and duped people crores of rupees. The entire scam spanning several cities is estimated at over Rs 500 crore.

Victims are now aghast at the callous manner in which their details have been shared on a public platform by the police. The victims TOI spoke to say they were unaware that their personal details were listed on the website.

Dr C Giridharan from Chennai, who was allegedly cheated out of Rs 6 lakh, said: “Why should police share somebody’s details on an open forum. This is shocking to say the least.” Ashok, another victim, said he wasn’t asked for consent before his Aadhaar number was uploaded on the website.

Kislay Chaudhary, chairman and CEO of Indian Cyber Army, a cyber security organization, and an analyst to cybercrime investigation units of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Delhi, said police are in breach of UIDAI rules. “With Aadhaar numbers in hand, miscreants can access financial and social details of the individuals,” he said. “This data can easily be misused.”

Under the Aadhaar Act 2016, any individual, entity or agency, which is in possession of Aadhaar number(s) of Aadhaar number holders, shall ensure security and confidentiality of the Aadhaar numbers and of any record or database containing the Aadhaar numbers.

M Mohan Reddy, convener of State-Level Bankers Committee (SLBC), revealed the rules pertaining to Aadhaar was made stringent under the Aadhaar Act. “Previously we could display Aadhaar details, but the Act has been modified and we cannot publish Aadhaar numbers any more,” Reddy said. “Now, no one is allowed to publish Aadhaar details.”

TOP COMMENT

The need of hour-- Educate the Govt employee

Paban S

Times View

Critics argue that such an enormous and potentially lucrative database such as Aadhaar can never be fully secured and too often, lax government officials and now police have lent credence to this view. No matter how stridently UIDAI claims that data obtained under the Aadhaar project is safe, citizens are unlikely to be consoled especially since fraudsters have been able to reach into bank accounts of people with even less data than UIDAI has under its thumb. With police too leaking personal data, one wonders who UIDAI can call on to ensure strict action.