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, August 2, 2018

13803 - After TRAI Chairman Provokes Hackers, Threat Emailed to Daughter - The Wire

After TRAI Chairman Provokes Hackers, Threat Emailed to Daughter

The email categorically states that a malware would be installed on R.S. Sharma's devices if the ransom is not paid and all his information would be made public. It ends with a warning that "the consequences would be regretful" if there is no reply to the email.

Credit: Pawel Kopczynski/Reuters

The Wire Staff

MEDIA

TECH

30/JUL/2018

New Delhi: By publishing his Aadhaar number online and egging hackers to take a go at him, TRAI chairman R.S. Sharma opened himself up to attack in more ways than one – his phone number, bank account and several other personal details became public information in a matter of hours.

Things took a more serious turn early July 30, when Sharma’s daughter, Kavita Sharma, was threatened via email. The sender warned her that her father’s email accounts had been compromised and that his Punjab National bank account “is under imminent threat of being hacked”.

The email, in which two journalists with The Wire were copied, along with two other journalists from other publications, said that if a ransom is not paid, all of R.S. Sharma’s information would be put into the public domain.

A screenshot of the email.

“By posting a challenge on social media, R.S. Sharma has turned out to be an embarrassment to the nation and put a bounty on his accounts for hackers,” reads the email, before going on to warn Kavita Sharma that all “sensitive files would be released if he does not delete his accounts immediately”.

The email warns Sharma’s daughter that if the instructions are not complied with, “a remote malware would be installed in his private cellphone and all his communications would be intercepted and archived. His emails would be encrypted and unless a ransom is paid, it would remain out of reach and released to the media”.

“Kavita: If you do not respond to this email in the next 24 hrs. The consequences would be regretful. Any tip off to law enforcement agencies, would be detrimental. You are advised to act wisely,” the blackmailer ends.

Also Read:
By Revealing His Aadhaar Number, the TRAI Chairman Has Opened a Can of Worms
The R.S. Sharma Fiasco Is Proof of Aadhaar’s Inescapable Nature

Two of R.S. Sharma’s email addresses were also included in the email – one Yahoo and one Gmail. The last recipient is a hacker from France known as “Elliot Alderson” on Twitter and identified by the email address “fs0c131y“.”Elliot Alderson”, a pseudonym, is the name of Rami Malek’s character in the TV hit Mr Robot, a show about a vigilante hacker.

The Wire’s Karnika Kohli, one of the two journalists who were copied into the mail, immediately tried to file a complaint on Delhi Police’s website, but faced some technical difficulties. The journalist then shared the email with CERT, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, before getting in touch with the cyber crime branch of the police only to be told to file a complaint in the morning.

“Please call in the morning as the madam who has the complaints register is only available from 10am-6pm,” an official told her.

The Wire has yet to get a response from CERT. The journalist also reached out to R.S. Sharma, but has not received a response.