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, April 25, 2019

13114 - Need to protect people's data legally and technologically: Nandan Nilekani - Business Standard

Need to protect people's data legally and technologically: Nandan Nilekani

He says Aadhaar is a much simpler system, but if it becomes ubiquitous and is used in several applications, then the number would go into every database and somebody can combine the databases

Peerzada Abrar  |  Bengaluru 
data storage
Photo: Shutterstock
Nandan Nilekani, the technology billionaire who was the first chairperson of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the parent organisation for Aadhaar, said on Monday that data privacy is a major concern area in the country and there is a need to make sure that people are protected as much as possible both legally and technologically. “I think it is something we should take cognizance of and we should be concerned about,” said Nilekani at an event organised by trade body FICCI.
When asked if Aadhaar could be misused referring to the Supreme Court case, Nilekani said the case was fought on multiple dimensions and there were many arguments including data privacy. Data privacy, he said, is a broader argument beyond Aadhaar as it includes everything such as issues related to mobile phones and social media data.
Aadhaar is a relatively much simpler system because the privacy problem becomes more acute when organisations collect personal data about people, while Aadhaar was never about collating that information, according to Nilekani. “It was about giving identity and doing the verification,” he said.
However, one of the concerns was that if Aadhaar number becomes ubiquitous and is used in multiple applications, then the number would go into every database and somebody can combine the databases. But Nilekani said private companies can’t store the Aadhaar number. Instead, they need to use virtual ID (VID) and UID token as a substitute of Aadhaar number for the purpose of authentication. “A lot of features are there for privacy,” he said. 
When asked if it makes sense to have ‘personal digital security’ as part of the curriculum in the schools, as children are growing up in a digital ambience, Nilekani said, some basic hygiene of digital security should be there.
Nilekani’s data privacy comments come at a time when the enterprises across the country are witnessing increasing cases of sensitive data exposure risks and breaches as services are rapidly getting digitalised. In February, French researcher Robert Baptiste, who goes by the online handle Elliot Alderson, claimed that he found a security breach that allegedly exposed millions of Aadhaar numbers of dealers and distributors associated with Indane, an LPG brand owned by the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).
Last week it was revealed that local search provider Justdial’s website was exposed which made the personal information of 100 million users “publicly accessible.” This included information such as names, email IDs, mobile numbers, genders, date of births, addresses, photos and occupations of the users. KrebsOnSecurity, a website about cybersecurity, reported last week that hackers had compromised IT services firm Wipro’s systems and used them to launch attacks on some of its clients. It also reported that cyber attackers may have targeted IT majors Infosys, Capgemini and Cognizant to access data of third-party company resources.
Besides data privacy, there are also concerns about the surveillance state. “I think that (surveillance) is a concern we should have... somebody can listen to your conversations,” added Nilekani.
In China, there is ‘Social Credit System’ proposed by the Chinese government for creating a national reputation system to rate the trustworthiness of its citizens including their economic and social status. It works as a mass surveillance tool and uses big data and analytics technology.
First Published: Mon, April 22 2019. 21:33 IST
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