AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 12713 - There's no consensus over Aadhaar number or 16-digit virtual ID

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

12713 - There's no consensus over Aadhaar number or 16-digit virtual ID - Economic Times

There's no consensus over Aadhaar number or 16-digit virtual ID

By Surabhi Agarwal, ET Bureau|

Updated: Jan 12, 2018, 08.01 AM IST

NEW DELHI: Scores of service providers that have warmed up to using Aadhaar authentication services or the 12-digit unique number as aKYC are still trying to understand the new system of virtual IDs and unique tokens introduced on Wednesday even as they have welcomed the enhanced security cover.

Once the new system, unveiled by UIDAI, is implemented from June, all service providers will have to provide customers the option to key in a 16-digit virtual ID in lieu of the Aadhaar number. They will also have to change their existing databases replacing Aadhaar with unique tokens generated against each customer.

Archit Gupta, CEO of ClearTax, said that while the intent of the change is good, the company is still trying to absorb the details of it. "The concept is very straightforward but there could be several implementation challenges since the customer will need to understand the concept," he said. "Even though the virtual ID is a revocable number, people who are accepting paper KYC will still get the Aadhaar number and will be able to maintain a database through it," said a top official of a service provider who did not wish to be identified.

While banks and telecom companies authenticate a user through their biometrics for generating e-KYC, which is real-time and cheaper, other service providers are accepting Aadhaar as proof of identity and address in the paper format. Speaking to ET, Ajay Bhushan Pandey acknowledged the concern for this section and said that people should insist on biometric authentication . "Slowly, we will have to educate more people to authenticate biometrically. We are taking it one step at a time," Pandey added.

He also said that the cost of the entire technology upgradation will be minuscule compared to the security and privacy of people which will be achieved through this. "It will not just strengthen the security of Aadhaar but will strengthen the security of the databases of even service providers such as banks and telecom companies," he added.

Some service providers, which have created parallel databases linked to Aadhaar to identify their beneficiaries or customers will have to change their internal systems and replace the UID number with unique tokens, which will be facilitated by UIDAI.

A top official at a Bank said that there will not be much challenge in transitioning to the new system. "The whole financial inclusion story of India is based on Aadhaar, this is the reason why they will not make it very complex," the official added. Experts have also raised concerns that whether the new system will make it more complicated for the poor and illiterate.

"It is unlikely that the poor will use this system, and in reality, may be subjected to further fraud and misuse. Racketeers may lure unsuspecting people into asking for money in return for generating new virtual IDs or to seed them again. They may be subject to more harassment," said Raman Jit Singh Chima, policy director at Access Now, a global policy think-tank. He added that it may be very difficult for a poor person to figure out where to generate or revoke a virtual ID, especially with the ..