9624 - Government Invades Privacy Under Money Bill - New Indian Express

Government Invades Privacy Under Money Bill

By Yatish Yadav

Published: 20th Mar 2016 08:18:33 AM

NEW DELHI: When Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told Parliament last week that privacy is not an absolute right during a debate on Aadhaar Bill, he was expressing the hidden intention of the government that camouflaged several vexed clauses in the Bill to present it as a money bill. The question is not that the government misled the nation on issues of privacy, but it also tried to misinform the beneficiary for whom it claims to have authored the legislation by saying that enrolment under Aadhaar is optional and not mandatory.

The scrutiny of Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016, by The Sunday Standard reveals that the government introduced Clause 3 in the Bill, making it voluntary but added Clause 7, taking away that choice from residents. Clause 3 gives every resident the right “to obtain an Aadhaar number by submitting his demographic information and biometric information by undergoing the process of enrolment”.

Clause 7 reads: “The Central Government or... the State Government may, for the purpose of establishing identity of an individual as a condition for receipt of a subsidy, benefit or service for which the expenditure is incurred from, or the receipt there from forms part of, the Consolidated Fund of India, require that such individual undergo authentication, or furnish proof of possession of Aadhaar.” A proviso in Clause 7 says that “if an Aadhaar number is not assigned to an individual, the individual shall be offered alternate and viable means of identification for delivery of the subsidy or service”. It shows the government is not imposing Aadhaar on its citizen. A marginal note in Clause 7 reveals the true intention: “Proof of Aadhaar number necessary for receipt of certain subsidies benefits and services etc.”

What makes this intention more clear is how the government will authenticate identity in case the individual is not assigned an Aadhaar number. Clause 2 (C) (n) says: “Identity information in respect of an individual includes his Aadhaar number, biometric information and demographic information.”

The proviso and a hidden section make it absolutely clear that no one can escape Aadhaar enrolment.

Through Clause 57, the government has allowed corporates to access individual biometric and related information. The sole intention of this new law is not only to provide efficient, transparent, and targeted delivery of subsidies, benefits and services but to also invade privacy under the guise of money bill. Clause 33 of the Bill paves the way to use Aadhaar for purposes other than providing services and benefits. Sub-section 2 of the clause empowers a joint secretary-level officer authorised by the government to disclose the information in the interest of national security.

contradiction

Government says in Rajya Sabha that Aadhaar enrolment is not mandatory and it is an ‘entitlement’

Clause 7 Note: Proof of Aadhaar number necessary for receipt of certain subsidies, benefits and

services, etc.

From Sunday Standard

9623 - Aadhaar Voluntary... Mandatory - New Indian Express

Aadhaar Voluntary... Mandatory

By Express News Service

Published: 20th March 2016 06:10 AM

When Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told Parliament last week privacy is not an absolute right, during the debate on the Aadhaar, he was trying to push a legislation that camouflaged several clauses to present it as a money Bill. The Union Govt also tried to misinform the beneficiary for whom it claims to have authored the piece of legislation by saying that enrolment under Aadhaar is optional and not mandatory. Yatish Yadav examines it threadbare.

Privacy Invaded

Here’s what a section in Clause 57 says: “Nothing contained in this Act shall prevent the use of Aadhaar number for establishing the identity of an individual for any purpose, whether by the state or anybody, corporate or person, pursuant to any law, for the time being in force, or any contract to this effect.”

read the fine print

Here’s how the Union Govt pulled a fast one by claiming Aadhaar is optional in the Bill’s Clause 3 but added Clause 7 to take away the choice

• Clause 3 says, every resident has the right to obtain an Aadhaar number by submitting his demographic and biometric information
• Clause 7 says, proof of Aadhaar number necessary for receipt of certain subsidies, benefits and services, etc
• Can anyone bypass Aadhaar to get subsidies? No. Marginal note in Clause 7 reads: “Proof of Aadhaar number necessary for receipt of certain subsidies benefits and services etc”
• Clause 2 (C) (n) says: “Identity information” includes Aadhaar no, biometric, demographic info
• Clause 33 paves the way to use Aadhaar for purposes other than providing services and benefits
• Sub-section 2 of Clause 33 empowers a joint secretary-level officer, authorised by the government, to disclose the information in the interest of national security

8763 - Company on Aadhaar List of 18 Contractors Was Prosecuted - New Indian Express

Company on Aadhaar List of 18 Contractors Was Prosecuted

By Yatish Yadav

Published: 27th Sep 2015 08:40:49 AM

An applicant at an enrolment centre 

NEW DELHI:The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which generates the so-called ‘12-digit magic number’ better known as Aadhaar, in a recent RTI response provided details of 18 companies that it had awarded a total of 25 contracts to for various services under the scheme.

Among the list of companies is Gujarat-based Sai Infosystem (India) Limited, which was registered with the Registrar of Companies, Ahmedabad, in 2003. According to the response to the RTI query, the UIDAI contract was awarded to Sai Infosystem on February 2, 2011, for the purchase of biometric authentication.

In what raises concerns over the nature of scrutiny before awarding government contracts, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs website, however, mentions that prosecution was launched against the company’s promoters for defrauding several banks in 2013.

The promoter and managing director of the company, Sunil Bhai Kakkad, was also arrested by Interpol in June last year. Kakkad was held in Monrovia, the capital of the West African country of Liberia. It is not yet clear whether the UIDAI terminated its contract after the Sai Infosystem fraud came to light. The Corporate Affairs Ministry website has listed 10 charges against the company, which is also known to have bagged several government contracts over the years.

Also on the list is L1 Identity Solutions Operating Company, which was awarded the contract for implementation of biometric solutions for the UIDAI on July 30, 2010. A month after signing the contract with the UIDAI, L1 Identity Solutions was acquired by French corporate conglomerate Safran SA Group. 

Interestingly, clause 15.3 of the contract agreements with L1 Identity Solutions says: “The data shall be retained by L1 Identity Solutions Operating Company for not more than a period of 7 years as per Retention Policy of Government of India or any other policy that UIDAI may adopt in future.”

On February 2, 2011, the UIDAI signed a contract with Sagem Morpho Security Pvt Ltd, which is owned by Safran SA Group, for the purchase of biometric authentication devices.

In response to the RTI application filed by Anil Vedvyas Galgali of Mumbai, the UIDAI also revealed on September 4 that the total outlay for the project was `13,663.22 crore, and that since its inception it had incurred `6,562.88 crore up to last month.

Among the companies which were awarded contracts, Telsima Communications Pvt Ltd was signed by the Central government agency for hiring of space for the UIDAI Biometrics Centre of Competence (UBCC) on January 27, 2011. Telsima, based in New Delhi, was floated in 2000. As per the Ministry of Corporate Affairs data, Telsima has three directors on board—Raj Kumar, John Joseph Madigan and Vikas Kumar Jain.

In February 2011, the UIDAI signed a contract with Geodesic Ltd for the purchase of biometric authentication devices. Mumbai-based Geodesic includes Pankaj Kumar, Kiran Kulkarni and Prashant Mulekar on its board. Pankaj, an alumnus of IIT-Roorkee, had been adviser to SCO prior to founding Geodesic. 

Another contract was signed in February 2011 with Totem International Ltd, also for the purchase of biometric authentication devices. Totem international was floated in 2009, and the company has two directors—Firoze Zia Hussain and Munchoor Lokayya Shetty.

Magic Number BJP Wanted To Scrap

In the run-up to the 2014 general elections, the BJP had criticised the Aadhaar project, and had even promised to scrap it if voted to power. The then BJP’s general secretary and now Union Fertilisers Minister, Ananth Kumar, had said that if elected, BJP would not only scrap the UIDAI, but also initiate criminal proceedings against those who were responsible for the scheme in which a large amount of public money was misused.

The Supreme Court, on August 11, barred the government from making Aadhaar card mandatory for individuals to avail benefits of welfare schemes, and directed it not to share personal biometric data collected for enrolment under the scheme to any authority.

The RTI response received by Galgali says, “There is no tendering process for the empanelment of enrolment agencies. The empanelment of agencies is being done under empanelment process guidelines contained in RFE 2014, dated May 19, 2014... As on date (August 24, 2015) 90.30 crore Aadhaar have been issued.”

List of Companies Awarded Contracts by UIDAI

1 HCL Infosystems

2 HP India Sales Pvt Ltd

3 Wipro Ltd

4 MAC Associates

5 National Informatics Centre Services Inc

6  Sagem Morpho Security Pvt.Ltd

7 Totem International Ltd

8 Linkwell Telesystems Pvt Ltd

9 Sai infosystem (India) Ltd

10 Geodesic Ltd

11 ID Solutions

12 NISG

13 STQC

14 Telsima Communication Pvt Ltd

15 Aircel, Bharti Airtel Ltd, BSNL, RailTel Corporation of India Ltd, Reliance Communications, Tata Communications

16 Tata Consultancy Services Ltd

17 Satyam Computer Services Ltd. (Mahindra Satyam)

18 L1 Identity Solutions Operating Company

5572 - Aadhaar Data Minefield Threatens to Blow Up in Government’s Face - New Indian Express

Aadhaar Data Minefield Threatens to Blow Up in Government’s Face

By Yatish Yadav

Published: 08th Jun 2014 09:53:52 AM

NEW DELHI: Your biometric and biographic data collected by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for the 12-digit unique Aadhaar number could well be at Fort Meade, the headquarters of NSA, the US spy agency. Intelligence agencies that had forewarned the government two years ago about the vulnerability of Aadhaar data due to involvement of foreign players are livid over latest NSA disclosures that reveal the US is prying on biometric database.

Needless to say the Intelligence Bureau (IB) is in a tizzy. NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden’s recent revelation that the American intelligence agency is covertly collecting biometric data of people from across the world has them worried sick. Central intelligence agencies had warned the government about a possible security breach in Aadhaar, which is considered the world’s largest biometric database.

The Aadhaar programme under UIDAI involved several foreign vendors and private companies for storage and collection of individual data, including iris scan and finger prints. In 2012, the IB warned the state about loopholes in Aadhaar, but the government continued with the enrolment process, sidestepping security concerns.

The NSA top secret documents leaked last week point to the covert operation. “Identity Intelligence is exploiting pieces of information that are unique to an individual to track, exploit and identify targets... ,” the papers stated.

Three types of data is being mined by the NSA which includes “biometric, biographic and contextual.” Biometric data shows an individual’s physical or behavioural traits like face, iris, fingerprints, voice etc. Biographic data gives details of life history, including address, school, and profession while contextual data is about individual’s travel history and financial bank details.

Although, the US government had earlier scrapped Aadhaar-like project for its residents, it surprisingly mounted covert ops to infiltrate biometric database in other countries. The decision of the US to not allow biometric profiling of residents was followed by China, Australia and UK and similar proposals were shot down by the respective governments.

The intelligence agencies raised the contentious provision in the contract agreement that allows foreign vendors to keep the biometric data for next 7 years making it easy prey for NSA. 

“The contract agreement signed by UIDAI with foreign vendors is absurd. Private companies can easily share it with US spy agency. We have seen how they arm twist private players to gain foothold in their server,” a top intelligence official said, adding the UIDAI also had arrangements with certain private software firms for technology assistance. 

UIDAI had signed contract agreement with US companies, Accenture and L1 Identity Solutions allowing them to keep data for seven years. The contract agreement clause 15.3 says, "The Data shall be retained by L1 Identity Solutions Operating Company not more than a period of seven years as per Retention Policy of Government of India or any other policy that UIDAI may adopt in future.” The same clause was applicable for Accenture.

Clause 15.1 further exposes the vulnerability regarding misuse of the data by foreign vendors. The clause in case of American company Accenture says: “By virtue of this Contract, M/s Accenture Services Pvt Ltd/Team of M/s Accenture Services Pvt Ltd may have access to personal information of the purchaser and/or a third party or any resident of India, any other person covered within the ambit of any legislation as may be applicable.”

In November last year, Max Schireson, CEO of tech firm Mongo DB (allegedly funded by CIA and NSA) had a meeting with UIDAI officials. Although, UIDAI had clarified that no contract was signed between Mongo DB and UIDAI, it had confirmed that DDG Tech Centre and ADG IT-II, Tech Centre held a meeting with Schireson.     

A home ministry official said on the condition of anonymity that the original mandate of UIDAI was to issue 12-digit numbers only and data collection was the responsibility of Registrar General of India (RGI) under the Ministry.

“UIDAI had no mandate to collect biometric as home ministry wanted government supervision over sensitive data, but the decision to overrule the original provision was taken at the top level,” he said. The UIDAI in its present form is like a private shop where home ministry rules and guidelines are not followed, he added.