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

Monday, June 25, 2018

13714 - Privacy law: Framework of Aadhaar divides Justice Srikrishna committee - Business Standard

Privacy law: Framework of Aadhaar divides Justice Srikrishna committee

A majority of the members are said to be backing the position that the law should not apply retrospectively

Mayank Jain  |  New Delhi 
Last Updated at June 19, 2018 06:46 IST

The B N Srikrishna committee, asked to examine issues on data protection and to draft a privacy law, is in the final stages of producing a report.

Before it finalises this, it has to address a couple of issues which have divided the members, say sources.

The committee, constituted in July 2017, met on Monday. An official with knowledge of the matter says the panel has been witnessing heated debate around the inclusion in the proposed privacy framework of Aadhaar, the citizen identity number based on personal detail.

If the suggested code is made applicable with retrospective effect, as some want, the unique identity project will be affected. For, the data collected under Aadhaar will come under the purview of the privacy law. A majority of the members are said to be backing the position that the law should not apply retrospectively. That apart, it is still being discussed as to how the law will function with regard to Aadhaar.

“The committee is trying to give final touches to the report, making sure every member is on board with the recommendations, a difficult task,” said an informed source.

ALSO READ: 1.21 bn Aadhaar generated till June 16, UMANG sees 6 mn downloads: Prasad

The retrospective clause is important because Aadhaar is continuously collecting data of new citizens being enrolled in the system, as well as data of authentication made by existing Aadhaar holders. The committee is trying to suggest a framework by which Aadhaar data could be governed.
Another issue being debated by the members is on data localisation (storage within the country), where there is again a divide. The reluctance of entities in the relevant sector has been noted, subsequent to the Reserve Bank rule that storing of all financial data pertaining to Indians must be in this country only.
Sources indicate the members are broadly in favour of data localisation. What is unclear is if the final report will recommend hard or soft localisation.

“A hard data localisation policy says you can only store data in India — all financial, personal, Aadhaar, biometric and health data cannot go out of the country for even an on-the-spot transaction,” said a person associated with the stakeholder meetings. “The committee has seen industry demands where they broadly agree to storing a copy of the data in India — this still allows global platforms to be used for processing. There’s no final view on this yet.”

Apart from this, the committee is expected to recommend the formation of a data and privacy regulator. This authority will have powers to regulate data collecting entities through monitoring, controls, issuing suspension notices and penalising for breach of the privacy norms.

The committee was expected to give its report two weeks ago but these points of difference delayed it. “They are not running against the timeline of a specific date of submission but, by the looks of it, if there are more meetings beyond Monday, this week will go in finalising the report. So, the submission can get delayed to early next month but that’s the extreme case,” according to a source.

Read our full coverage on aadhaar card

First Published: Tue, June 19 2018. 06:46 IST
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