AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 13581 - Remaining issues with the proposed national ID-Philippine Daily Enquirer

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

Friday, May 25, 2018

13581 - Remaining issues with the proposed national ID-Philippine Daily Enquirer

Remaining issues with the proposed national ID

By: Renato C. Valencia - @inquirerdotnet

Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:10 AM May 21, 2018

The Senate recently approved Senate Bill No. 1738, or “An Act Establishing the Philippine Identification System,” while the House also reportedly approved a similar measure.

Debates for or against national ID have been going on for decades, but these are the facts:

Around 100 countries had enacted laws making identity cards compulsory under varying circumstances, according to a 1996 publication by Privacy International.

The Philippines, United Kingdom, United States, Canada and some other countries, are among those without identity cards.

There had been attempts to establish a national ID system in the Philippines which, for one reason or another, failed.

Two major issues remain, which we hope President Duterte would consider before enacting this bill into law: The card is the only mandated medium for the national ID. There is no provision for protection against abuse or misuse of the national ID.

Medium for national ID should be open Section 7, paragraph c of the Senate Bill, states that “the PhilID Card shall be the medium,” thus limiting the medium to a card, most likely with a chip and the necessary security features.

In my opinion, the card is not the best medium for the national national ID for the following reasons:

It would be a very expensive proposition. My guess is that a sophisticated card with chip and security features would probably cost about $5 each, or about $500 million for a population of 100 million.

Protection vs abuse or misuse

In India, the ID is the number, not the card. The identity number is printed on a paper document known as Aadhaar card, which number can be verified online.

The best location for biometrics would probably be in a mobile phone (in a secure element, like the SIM or SD card) for two reasons:

(a) the biometrics can be matched (a). against a person through the phone’s camera for face, iris, or gait; its scanner for fingerprint; or its microphone for voice; and

(b) the biometrics can be authenticated online with the official data base anytime provided there is network connection.

Best of all, keeping the medium for national ID open will probably encourage the banks and the telephone operators to provide the medium for the national ID for free or through shared costs provided they can share in the authentication revenues.

Section 17 of the bill, or “Protection against Unlawful Disclosure of Information/Records,” is good, but paragraph b should be removed because an individual’s consent or a court order to access private information should be sufficient to protect public health or safety.

There should be a specific provision to protect the people from abuse or misuse of national ID, such as:

-Deprivation of social benefits and services due to lack of national ID;

-Using the national ID for profiling or surveillance of people, especially the vulnerable ones;

-Using the national ID to restrict movement or assembly of people;

-Breach of the data base.;

Conclusion

The national ID must be used for the common good without violating our basic rights. Moreover, technology now allows the use of various media for national ID which could be more advantageous to the users.