Expressions – Bhagwad Jal Park

After many months, we now see the true colors of the Unique Identity (UID) number that Nilekani is so keen to foist on the Indian public. At a function organized by the Indo American Chamber of Commerce, he admitted that the real motivation for the UID was to track people. He also said that in time, if someone didn’t have a UID, that would in itself be suspicious.

Long ago, it was feared that the UID will be used for mass surveillance. Nilekani goes so far as to say that all hotels might be required to demand a UID from those who stay there – not for purposes of credit or to ensure payment, but simply so that the government will be able to keep track of who is where.

Image Credit: Aquila

Mass surveillance around the corner with the UID

The obvious question is, where will this stop? If hotels demand a UID before you can stay in them, will it be long before a theater asks for it before you can watch a movie? Even worse, can a policeman randomly stop you on the road and ask for it as well? This isn’t the same as being asked for  a driver’s license since not everyone should be allowed to drive if they’re not qualified. But asking for an ID “just to check up on you” is an invasion of privacy. However, since privacy is a legal right in India, I wonder how such procedures would stand up in court.

To assume that the government won’t become more and more intrusive if it has the ability is stupid. Whenever governments get too much power, disaster ensues. We can rest assured that slowly, bit by bit, the uses of this UID will continue to increase and become more and more pervasive if technologically feasible. Most of us still don’t realize how much the loss of privacy will hurt. They will learn once they do lose it. In that way, this whole experiment is a good thing. It’ll be painful, but it might just be the start of an experience that will teach us the value of what we take for granted in a free country like India.

Similar Posts:

• Trying to make the UID palatable to the common man – November 6, 2009
• Privacy Laws in India – June 15, 2009
• Why we shouldn’t give the Government too much Power – Savita Bhabi is Proof – July 15, 2009
• National ID cards in India – The financial cost – July 1, 2009
• Indian National ID Voluntary – No card at all! – August 26, 2009

When the project to give every India a Unique Identity (UID) Number was announced, the reason given to the public was that it would check illegal immigrants. Of course, even at that time some of us wondered how this could be achieved since there was no way to check whether a person was an illegal immigrant before giving the UID.

It turns out that we were right. Our home minister Chidambaram has admitted that the UID won’t be able to identify existing illegal immigrants. Even after handing out the cards, the UID will at most be a proof of residence and not citizenship. So what’s the real reason for the card? Why did the government have to cover up the purpose with the “stopping illegal immigrants” mantra?

Image Credit: patparslow

Do you need a number to tell you who you are?

The real reason is that the UID will act as a link between various government databases. As it stands right now, the government has little bits of info about us which are relevant to their department. For example, the tax department knows what it needs to know – namely your financial details and such. It doesn’t know about your health or education. Nor should it. In the same way, your health data (if maintained by the government and insurance companies) should not be linked to your tax status and finances.

Now suppose all the data from the various government departments is aggregated. Imagine you go to a hospital for treatment, it will be theoretically possible for the hospital to “determine” whether you’re financially sound by looking at your investments and refuse to treat you on that basis. Or suppose you go to enroll your kid in a school and using your UID, the school is able to recover your financial situation?

Or worse still, suppose a governmental officer asks you for a bribe after checking out how much you’ll be able to pay? The possibilities for abuse are simply endless.

The dangers of having data easily accessible in one place can only be mitigated by thorough privacy laws and technical measures. But we have no such comprehensive privacy laws (though Nilekani has said the country needs them). Moreover, this will be the largest identification database in the history of mankind. Smaller systems have been compromised till now. Do you trust the Indian babus to not abuse the power this database gives them? I certainly don’t.

What’s your opinion?

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Similar Posts:

• It’s started – UID used for tagging and tracking – October 4, 2009
• Worldwide attention on National ID cards in India – June 29, 2009
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• Nilekani admits that UID will be used for tracking people – December 9, 2009
• Universal ID cards. A threat to privacy – December 11, 2006

Well, the UID fingerprinting scheme is now finalized. And they’re not taking just one, but fingerprints from all ten fingers! Well, I suppose we should be grateful they’re not scanning our eyes and taking saliva samples – yet.

It turns out that the handing over (Or fingering over? Wish we could really give them the finger ) of the prints will be mandatory and will have to be implemented wherever you have to hand over identification – such as banks, passport offices and ration card offices etc. Hopefully we’ll have to do it just once and be done with it.

So here’s what the plan is for these guys. All current identification cards will initially have their own ID numbers as is the case now, with the UID also being present. As time goes by, the other ID will be phased out and all that will remain will be the UID. The National Authority for Unique Identity (NAUI) and other institutions will then verify your identity when you visit say a bank by taking your fingerprints as well as your UID and query the database (sounds so Orwellian!) which will then either confirm or deny that you are….well you!

Image Credit: Mr Jaded

Fingerprints being collected for the UID

I’m paranoid enough to observe a sort of sinister progression of matters here. Initially we were told that other forms of identity would maintain their own IDs and now we’re told they’ll be phased out. We were told the UID would be voluntary with no card at all, and now we find that we have to give our fingerprints whenever we show our regular IDs and that the UID will be attached to other cards and not its own. Is the scope of this program going to expand even further?

I think it will. The temptation to use the UID in a more and more invasive manner will be too strong for the government to resist. Our only hope here is that Nilekani seems to be paying a good deal of attention to privacy related issues by consulting lawyers and other experts. Let’s hope it’s enough and he leaves enough power in the hands of the people without allowing the government to do whatever they want.

We need proper legislation to ensure that this scheme doesn’t go beyond its bounds and remains confined to a strict agenda only.

What do you think?

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Similar Posts:

• Indian Unique National ID will not include Personal Details – September 10, 2009
• Trying to make the UID palatable to the common man – November 6, 2009
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A while ago, while introducing the Unique Identity Number (UIN) for Indians, we were promised that it would not contain personal data. However, we’ve just found out that the lure of power that comes with such a massive database is too powerful to resist. 85 lakh children will be tagged and tracked with their caste information under a scheme that the government promises will help evaluate the performance of schools.

Consider the implications of having a child’s caste officially recorded in a database. It means that it’s unchangeable, and forever linked to them. In a country where it’s illegal to discriminate on the basis of caste, tracking caste details of children is ridiculous. When we’re trying to abolish something, giving it official sanction and putting it as a badge on an individual is hardly the most progressive step. Suppose a child doesn’t care what his or her caste is? But that’s not enough – apparently the government cares.

The Nazis used to number humans - are we just numbers?

According to the latest program, the details of the child’s school and complete health information will be updated till they’re 14 years of age. It seems the govt. doesn’t care if the child’s privacy is being violated. And when they’re too young to even know that it’s happening.

Just in case you’re thinking that people don’t have a right to privacy, think again. Privacy is a constitutional right in India – one that was just recently reiterated in the Delhi HC’s historic judgment on the decriminalization of homosexuality. I’ve come across people who propose that privacy can take a backseat in the “national interest.” Such logic is dangerous and is the kind of logic propounded by totalitarian governments who can deem anything to be in the national interest. Indeed, giving the government too much power is never a good idea.

Hopefully however, not all seems to be lost. Nilekani seems to be taking an interest in privacy related issues by consulting judges, lawyers and students from the National Law School of India (NLSIU) in Bangalore about how dignity violations can occur and privacy can be eroded by the UIN At the same time though, he seems to be open to the idea of selling UID data to corporates to monetize the scheme.

It’s going to be massively difficult to keep the government from making use of the UID to intrude on people’s privacy. Nilekani has no doubt given some thought to this matter, but has he given enough? That is the question. Unless people are confident that it will not be misused, ensuring mass adoption is going to be a very tough sell.

What do you think?

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• UID and Cellphone Numbers – a benign start? – September 25, 2009
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It makes sense. The database with half a billion genuine subscribers to mobile phones in India can be used as a starting point for allocating the Unique Identity numbers for a billion Indians. We already know that Nandan Nilekani doesn’t currently plan to include personal details in the National Database. But it looks like your cellphone number is going to be part of it.

While it seems like a good start, one wonders if the Unique ID is properly targeted here. According to all sources, it’s the poor and underprivileged who need it most. Maybe such people will not have cell phones (700 million of them). In which case, we’re starting out by giving UIDs to those whom it’s not meant to benefit. But it’s still a start and we have to start somewhere. Since each person’s biometrics will be associated, this should remove the problems with duplicate IDs. But it’s going to mean a huge task of gathering data.

Image Credit: Vinay Joshi/Reuters

Indian National ID set to use Mobile Subscriber Base

Of course since the government isn’t going to blindly copy the telephone subscriber data, how many people are going to willingly verify their numbers for the UID scheme and hand over their fingerprints? Will there be any incentive for them? In the long run, I’m sure that this project can cover almost all the country. What we’re still waiting to see is whether or not the UID will be used for other sinister purposes – even though Nilekani says that there’s no “card” as such and that it’ll be voluntary (initially at least).

India’s large and undisciplined population might be a strength here. After all, for people to keep, maintain and carry a UID requires discipline. You can’t force people to remember to carry it with them. And it’s not like a driving license where if you don’t have it, you’re putting people in danger cause you may not be qualified to drive. After all, there’s nothing wrong in going for an impromptu stroll is there?

I’m watching the situation with – as Blackadder put it in Season 4 – “with a due sense of dread.” To keep upto date with the Unique Identity Card issue in India, subscribe to its RSS feed.

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Similar Posts:

• Indian Unique National ID will not include Personal Details – September 10, 2009
• It’s started – UID used for tagging and tracking – October 4, 2009
• Getting your fingerprints by hook or crook for the UID – October 16, 2009
• Trying to make the UID palatable to the common man – November 6, 2009
• Nilekani admits that UID will be used for tracking people – December 9, 2009

There’s some good news and some bad news for those who feel that the Unique Identity number for Indians will be an invasion of their privacy. First the good news. It turns out that the ID will be linked to only four pieces of information namely:

1. Name
2. Address
3. Date of Birth
4. Fingerprints

This means that no sensitive information such as religion, caste, or income will be mentioned on the card thereby reducing the opportunities for discrimination. However, I’m a bit suspicious of the “address” field since it changes so often. One can only hope that either the process for changing it is simple or that it refers to a constant address such as your place of birth. This is more complicated than the address on the PAN card or the Passport, since those documents are for specific purposes, whereas this is a general Identification number.

Image Credit: Baranka

Indian Unique Identity Number

One interesting point is that since the card will not include caste information, how is the government going to use it to achieve it’s stated goal of ensuring proper implementation of schemes that rely on SC/ST data? Not that I’m complaining! The less information the better, but I’m just curious as to how this is going to work.

Moreover, it implies that apart from these four fields, more parameters are unlikely to be added since presumably the database structure is going to be set in advance and changing it later might be problematic. Also, collecting these four pieces of data is going to be difficult enough for a billion people. If they were going to add more data, they would do it from the start. There is always the danger however that as time goes by, the attraction of storing more and more information about a person will prove too powerful to resist.

The bad news is the implication that it might become compulsory after a period of time when voluntary registration begins to slow down. Nandan Nilekani proposes that this might happen after ten years or so. I’m against a compulsory registration as that might lead to abuses and injustice being perpetuated against those who are unable to obtain an ID or have lost their card. Incidentally, since we have seen that the Indian National ID will not be incorporating a card, how are they going to ensure that people know their Unique ID? More details will emerge on this later no doubt.

The whole issue bears close watching. It pays to be suspicious of governments as they have a tendency to abrogate the rights and freedoms of citizens in the name of “security” and “safety.” I’ll be covering further updates on this issue as and when they take place under the “privacy” tag. You can subscribe to the privacy RSS updates which cover all issues relating to privacy, with special attention to India.

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• It’s started – UID used for tagging and tracking – October 4, 2009
• Privacy Laws in India – June 15, 2009
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• Universal ID cards. A threat to privacy – December 11, 2006

Here’s some great news. Apparently, the Government will not be issuing any National ID card at all, but rather a stand alone number. Even better, it will not be compulsory. So that rules out stopping people on the road and asking them for their card randomly.

Image Credit: Elliot Moore

Indian National ID NOT compulsory!

This removes the teeth from the whole idea and is a much better system. Something like the SSN in the US. Apparently the ID number is so that other departments can make use of it in any manner they wish. This means that (hopefully), the databases of the various ministries will not be linked together and that the Indian Government won’t be able to keep track of all the details of our lives.

I wonder why this clarification was made. Probably because someone realized that it’s too difficult to implement otherwise! Or maybe there was resistance from the various ministries who saw their own ID systems under threat. Either way, it’s a fantastic development, and one over which we should all heave a collective sigh.

What do you think? Take the Poll!

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Similar Posts:

• National ID cards – A threat to privacy – June 22, 2009
• How do you define Privacy? – June 16, 2009
• Why we shouldn’t give the Government too much Power – Savita Bhabi is Proof – July 15, 2009
• Nilekani admits that UID will be used for tracking people – December 9, 2009
• Universal ID cards. A threat to privacy – December 11, 2006

For those unable to believe how anyone could possibly not welcome Identity cards with open arms, here’s a story for you. After the war, fed up with the constant intrusions of privacy and government tracking, the British Housewives League burnt their compulsory ID cards in frying pans and dry cleaners.

In 1950 in London, when a common man refused to present his ID card to the police, he was taken to court. Lord Goddard who was the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales said that compulsory ID cards must be scrapped since they “tend to make people resentful of the acts of the police.”

Image Credit: http://www.no2id.net

Compulsory Identity Cars will be used to harass people

And now a final tidbit. These ID cards were introduced during the Second World War in order to enforce wartime regulations. However, intoxicated by the power that such Identity Cards gave it, the government did not revoke the ID cards. Police still had the power to detain anyone on the street and ask them for their card. Not surprising given that we saw earlier that we must not give the government too much power.

More proof that world over, compulsory Identity Cards have resulted in repression and police abuse. We must never forget history while making policies since such mistakes are expensive and ones that we can ill afford.

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• Trying to make the UID palatable to the common man – November 6, 2009
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• Why we shouldn’t give the Government too much Power – Savita Bhabi is Proof – July 15, 2009
• Universal ID cards. A threat to privacy – December 11, 2006

A previous blog post of mine had opined that giving the Government too much power was dangerous – even in the interests of “National Security”. This is because any such power which is meant to be used only in extreme circumstances ends up being used in frivolous ways leading to a serious impingement on the proper constitutional procedures of law.

Image Credit: LU5H.bunny

Government Abuse of Power

At that time, I was referring to giving the Government the power to track people via the “National ID card“. Many people had lambasted the post saying that we need this sort of security and that there was no danger of the Government abusing it. For all those people, here’s a recent example of what I’m talking about.

Last year, parliament passed an IT amendment giving the Government far reaching powers to block any website that it chooses in the Interests of “National Security” or if it “Damages the relationships of India with a Foreign Power”. This was seen as a necessary step in the background of the Mumbai Terror attacks and the Government used this opportunity to pass the bill through at a time when people were willing to let the Government have this power to “keep them safe”.

But once it was passed, what is the outcome? The first website to be blocked was…hold your breath, a cartoon site! In case you’re wondering what was on it, the site featured an imaginary woman called Savitha Bhabhi (or Savita Bhabi) engaging in highly promiscuous and explicit sexual behavior. Not the most palatable website for a lot of Indians it is true, but one that is hardly a threat to the security of the nation or damaging India’s diplomatic ventures. Yet the Government blocked the site on the complaints of people because it had the power to do so and no one was seriously going to challenge it since porn is still highly taboo in Indian Society.

Tomorrow the Government can use the same law to block anything – say your own blog for example. A classic case of the abuse of Power. It’s not just the Indian Government I’m worried about, so don’t get me wrong. No government on earth can resist the temptation to use power whenever it can. History (both distant and recent) has shown this to us time and again.

So the smart thing to do is to not give it much. The government of a country must be kept on a tight leash. In India, the courts have traditionally been this leash, and predictably, the Government is not happy about it, but there’s not much it can do though it’s trying. Recently the Indian Law minister said that Parliament should have a say in the appointment of Judges – just one instance of the Government trying to reign in the Judiciary. But the Indian Courts are fiercely independent. I’m betting they’ll ensure that things don’t go wrong.

I hope this example of Savita Bhabi shows people in India the dangers of letting the Government control too much of other people’s lives – ultimately a time will come when it will want to control…everything.

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• It’s started – UID used for tagging and tracking – October 4, 2009
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The UK government has just admitted that National ID cards were a mistake. Amongst other reasons were the cost, as well as the realization that ID cards are not the solution to perfect security. Alan Johnson, the Home secretary had said: “it had been a mistake to ever allow the perception to grow that they would be a “panacea” to stop terrorism.”

Image Credit: Gareth Harper

National ID cards in the UK reverted – An invasion of privacy and too much hassle

Makes me wonder – if the UK, with a population of only 60 million people has a problem with cost and deployment, how much more will the cost to India be with a population of 1.1 billion (20 times more than the UK)? Most of these people are not easily accessible (unlike the UK where people are much easier to find and communicate with.)

Sounds to me as if the Government of India is in for a huge wakeup call – unless they find a way to make it work where everyone else has failed. I’m not saying it will never happen (never say never!). But when a developed country with a per capita GDP 51 times more than India and a population 20 times less says that it’s too much of a hassle, people should stop and think.

It might turn out that a lot of money will go into starting this project only to fizzle out later – and to add to this, we have the government’s track record in handling large projects. You do the math.

Similar Posts:

• UID and Cellphone Numbers – a benign start? – September 25, 2009
• It’s started – UID used for tagging and tracking – October 4, 2009
• Worldwide attention on National ID cards in India – June 29, 2009
• Why we shouldn’t give the Government too much Power – Savita Bhabi is Proof – July 15, 2009
• Nilekani admits that UID will be used for tracking people – December 9, 2009