AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: Vivek Velankar

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

Showing posts with label Vivek Velankar. Show all posts

Monday, September 11, 2017

12002 - UIDAI declines privacy activist request for Aadhaar data protection information - Biometric Update

UIDAI declines privacy activist request for Aadhaar data protection information

By Justin Lee

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the authority for Aadhaar, have declined Indian privacy activist Vivek Velankar’s request to reveal the names of companies responsible for storing sensitive data as well as the manufacturers of the servers over ‘security reasons’, according to a report by The Times of India.September 5, 2017 -

To address data privacy concerns regarding the compulsory Aadhaar registration, Velankar had filed an RTI application asking for the names of the companies storing Aadhaar data, name of the country where the data is stored and the names of the server manufacturers.

“I had sought the information regarding UIDAI under RTI,” Velankar said. “However, the identification authority has denied the information citing Section 8 (1) (a) of the RTI Act, which says that if the information is provided, the country’s security will be endangered.”

Velankar said that such basic information should be publically available to assure people that the stored information has not been given to a foreign company, is stored within the country, and that the servers housing the information are not manufactured in China.

UIDAI officials responded by stating that the information is too sensitive and cannot be shared outside the authority, unless it is ordered by the government.

The authority also said that UIDAI’s central identities data repository facilities, information, assets, logistics, infrastructure and dependencies installed at the authority’s locations are protected by the Information Technology Act, 2000.

In early August, theUnique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) told India’s Supreme Court that it is nearly impossible to use Aadhaar to track citizens.

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

11982 - Aadhaar body refuses to answer data protection query for ‘security reasons’ - TNN

Aadhaar body refuses to answer data protection query for ‘security reasons’

TNN | Updated: Sep 3, 2017, 08:46 IST

PUNE: Pune-based activist Vivek Velankar is concerned about the safeguards in place to protect Aadhaar data. He feels the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is stonewalling him by refusing to reveal the names of companies responsible storing the sensitive data as well as the manufacturers of the servers. The UIDAI, however, claims the information cannot be revealed due to security reasons.

Today several questions regarding protection of Aadhaar data are being posed. Moreover, there is also the concern about compulsory Aadhaar registration actually breaching Right to Privacy. To address such questions, Velankar had filed an RTI application seeking the names of the companies storing Aadhaar data, name of the country where the data is stored and also the names of the server manufacturers.

"I had sought the information regarding UIDAI under RTI. However, the identification authority has denied the information citing Section 8 (1)(a) of the RTI Act, which says that if the information is provided, the country's security will be endangered," he said.

The activist added that such basic information should, in fact, be published in the public domain to assure people that the data storage work has not been given to a foreign company, and it is stored within India. Moreover, people should also get the assurance that the servers on which the data is stored, are not manufactured in China.

In their reply, UIDAI officials stated that the nature of the information is such that it cannot be shared outside the authority, unless mandated. They further added that UIDAI's central identities data repository facilities, information, assets, logistics, infrastructure and dependencies installed at UIDAI locations are to be protected for the purpose of Information Technology Act, 2000.

Anupam Saraf, an internationally-renowned expert on governance of complex systems as well as the advisor to former Goa chief minister, added that to coerce anyone to enroll and link Aadhaar to PAN, cellphone numbers, bank accounts and almost all public and private databases, is not a good idea.

"Aadhaar destroys business and governance processes. It removes the steps of identification and consent in transactions with authentication. Authentication is not identification, and it is not consent to any transaction. It exposes everyone to Aadhaar fraud."

Saraf, who is from Pune, points out to one of minister Ravi Shanker Prasad's statements in Parliament, in which the minister said that 34,000 enrollment officials had been suspended for irregularities, while 50%-90% of the Aadhaar database was full of "ghosts".

"If Aadhaar is not certified by any government official to be a proof of identity, address, resident status or even existence, and if the Aadhaar database has never been verified or audited by anyone, than its use for governance is bad, if not mala fide," he said.

Saraf believes that no data protection or privacy law is adequate to cure Aadhaar of these ills. He feels that the threat to Aadhaar data can only be neutered by destroying it and prohibiting the use of Aadhaar, as was done in the case of national ID data in the UK.

Monday, August 28, 2017

11911 - Concern for privacy: Activists' chorus grows for Aadhaar to go - TNN

Concern for privacy: Activists' chorus grows for Aadhaar to go
Nisha Nambiar| TNN | Updated: Aug 27, 2017, 10:21 AM IST

Representative image

Is Aadhaar data protected? Is taking of fingerprints and iris scan an infringement of privacy? Citizens are grappling with such questions after Supreme Court declared that privacy is a fundamental right, protected as an intrinsic part of the right to life and personal liberty.

"One wonders whether taking fingerprints and iris scans and linking them to various data is not infringement of the right to privacy. Why must this data be linked to bank accounts?" Pune-based activist Vivek Velankar said.

Fellow activist Vijay Kumbhar said the government is mum on data security. "There are many cases of data being leaked. What is the guarantee that personal data collected will not be given out? Why are citizens forced to give it away?" he said.

President of Nagrik Chetana Manch Anupam Saraph has campaigned against Aadhaar. He told TOI that the present coercion to enrol and link Aadhaar to PAN, cellphones, bank accounts and practically all public and private databases is contempt of the apex court's orders.

"On the floor of Parliament, finance minis ter Arun Jaitley told members he was forcing people to get an Aadhaar. The coercion to link Aadhaar to PAN numbers, cellphones, bank accounts is not only foolish but also illegal and in contempt of the law," he said.

Saraph added that a government that does not call off the Aadhaar idea on its own after this ruling, would not just destroy its credibility, but also lose its respectability.

Saraph said if the government continued to protect Aadhaar, it would be a failure of democracy and an indication of the digital colonisation by Aadhaar.

Data protection is an issue, as everyone who enrolls for Aadhaar cannot escape the dangers of data being on a public platform. The dangers of Aadhaar cannot be nullified by data protection technology or laws, he said.

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Email help at uidai dot gov dot in asking to delete your bio-metrics from database, archive and third party storage and deactivate your #aadhaarFevicol Aadhaar

"Aadhaar destroys business and governance processes. It removes the steps of identification and consent in transactions with `authentication' which is not identification. It is not right for any transaction," he added.

No data protection or privacy law will be able to cure Aadhaar of these ills, Saraph said.The threat to Aadhaar data can only be resolved by destroying it and prohibiting the use of Aadhaar as was done to the national ID data by the UK.