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

Friday, January 12, 2018

12711 - Aadhaar Articles Dated 12th January 2018



Economic Times
NEW DELHI: Citizens will have the choice to never disclose their 12-digit Aadhaar number even to government agencies mandated by the law to store the unique identity number, according to a top official in the central agency which announced a series of measures on Wednesday to strengthen the ...



Economic Times
The UIDAI had yesterday introduced the concept of 'Virtual ID', which an Aadhaar card holder can generate from its website and give out for various purposes, including SIM verification, instead of sharing the actual 12-digit biometric ID. They have the option of not sharing their Aadhaar number at the ...
Virtual ID for Aadhaar - The Tribune



Times of India (blog)
"Aadhaar is complex and it will have flaws just like any other complex software product does. Some of them may be quite serious and they must be treated as such. That will require an open and receptive attitude from the government and above all, acknowledgment that Aadhaar is not 'hack-proof,'" Hunt ...






Economic Times
NEW DELHI: Union law and information technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad lashed out at the critics of Aadhaar, arguing that it had benefited the poor while vouching for the strength of its security mechanisms following last week's report that demographic details of those enrolled in the system were ...



Times of India Gadgets
According to a report from Patrika, SK Brijwani, a resident of Janta Store, Bapu Nagar was asked by a youth to link mobile number with Aadhaar card, but instead deactivated his SIM and issued him a new one. Using his old SIM, the youth withdrew Rs 1,10,000 from his bank account. Brijwani got to know ...






Firstpost
New Delhi: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Wednesday introduced 'Virtual ID' (VID) to safeguard Aadhaar cardholders' data. VID will be a 16-digit, randomly-generated number which can be used for authentication instead of the original Aadhaar number, according to UIDAI.






ANI News
Madurai (Tamil Nadu) [India], JAN 11 (ANI): The Madurai district administration on Thursday made the Aadhaar registration mandatory for bull tamers who wished participate in the annually organised festival of the Jallikattu celebrations. According to reports, this new order has not gone down well with ...






Storypick
The Aadhaar card has been under a lot of public scrutiny recently. This is because of the recent revelation that ... is this online researcher tried something else. Going by the name of Elliot Alderson he brought to light that the mAadhaar (the official Android app for Aadhaar) has poor security standards.






The Tribune
A farmer from Sangrur's Janal village has been running from pillar to post since 2011 to get an Aadhaar card. He has applied nine times at various places, including Dirba, Sangrur and even Tohana. Banks are now threatening to freeze his accounts and he could lose the gas cylinder subsidy. The LIC ...






The Logical Indian
The very preamble says the idea of the 12-digit identity number is to efficiently transfer government benefits to individuals residing in India. But does Aadhaar consider the homeless people residing in the country as its beneficiaries? It seems no. For getting an Aadhaar card, it is compulsory to have an ...






The Hindu
The Madras High Court has made it mandatory for those seeking licence from the Greater Chennai Corporation for establishing bunk shops on roadsides to produce their Aadhaar cards in order to prevent individuals from obtaining licences for multiple shops, and give an undertaking that they shall not ...






ThePrint
The debates over Aadhaar, GM crops, vaccines etc. show an uncanny consensus across the political divide on the role of govt as gatekeeper of science and tech. I think of myself as a techno-optimist. But all technologies come with their own limitations. Biometrics are no exception. But the debate over ...






Business Standard
Even as data leaks from UIDAI – the body that maintains Aadhaar data of over a billion Indians –raises questions over the safety of personal data, breach of privacy may come from our very own mobile devices. From biometric data like fingerprint and retina scans to financial information like your card ...






NDTV
Aadhaar is to be mandatorily linked with PAN or Permanent Account Number card by March 31, 2018. In December, the government extended by three months a deadline for taxpayers to link their Aadhaar number - the 12-digit Unique Identity Number (UID) issued by the Unique Identification Authority of ...