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UPDATE
MAY 2010
The
Government of India has accepted the
suggestion of Aadhar Watch Initiative Of
India and decided to enact a law regarding UID Project of
India. We
welcome this step and would keep on updating the
viewers in this regard. We also seek and thank you for your continued
support
for the success of this initiative as well as for the protection of
Civil Liberties
Of Indians.
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The
Unique Identification
Authority of India (UIDAI) has been created as an attached office under
the
Planning Commission. Its role is to develop and implement the necessary
institutional, technical and legal infrastructure to issue unique
identity
numbers to Indian residents.
None
can doubt about the utility
and importance of UID Project. However, techno-legal check and balance
are needed
before it is actually implemented. One such measure/initiative that
would
provide a techno-legal analysis of UID/ UIDAI is Human
Rights
Protection in Cyberspace.
It has been pioneered by Mr. Praveen Dalal,
Managing Partner of Perry4Law
and the
leading Techno-Legal Expert of India.
Perry4Law
is the only
techno-legal firm of India
and is exclusively working in the direction of Legal
Enablement of ICT
Systems in India.
Since UID is also a part of legal
enablement of
ICT systems, Perry4Law has launched this initiative to keep Indian
citizens
informed and to provide its valuable suggestions and recommendations to
UIDAI
in general and Government of India in particular.
Till
now UID/UIDAI has not made
any significant progress. In the opinion of Perry4Law,
some of
the
problems that UID/UIDAI must resolve as soon as possible are:
(1)
Legal Framework: The
UIDAI would be set up under a statutory authority. The UIDAI is in the
process
of drafting legislation for this purpose. In the absence of a
“Constitutionally
Sound Legislation” empowering UIDAI to perform the mandated
functions, all act
and actions of UIDAI would be “Unconstitutional and
Illegal”.
Till
now, UIDAI is “Not
Legally Constituted”.
As a natural consequence, all
the acts of
UIDAI as well as expenditure incurred by it or for its purpose and on
its
behalf cannot be “Justified” by any statutory law
or
Constitutional provision
and the same can be challenged through a RTI application as well as in
a court
of law.
(2)
Privacy Protection: The
first and foremost evil of UID/UIDAI without a proper legal framework
is that
it would violate the “Right to Privacy” as
conferred under
Article 21 of the
Constitution. In the absence of just and reasonable law(s) to support
the same,
it would violate the Human Rights and Fundamental Rights of the
citizens of India.
The
interaction of Information
and Communication Technology (ICT) with Human Rights is no more a
science
fiction and India
must keep in mind the mandates of Human
Rights Protection
in Cyberspace while implementing projects
that
have no legal sanction and backing.
(3) Data Protection: The
“Data
Protection”
requirements would pose big challenge
before India.
The amount of data collected for by UIDAI would be tremendous.
Presently, India
does not have either a legal framework or technical capabilities to
accommodate
the demands of the proposed functions of UIDAI.
(4) E-Surveillance: In
the absence of a constitutionally sound legislation and transparency
and
accountability. the main aim of the proposed UID Project seems to be to
strengthen the “E-Surveillance
Capabilities”
of India.
With
the passage of IT Act 2008 India
has now officially become an endemic
e-surveillance society.
The amendments have
provided
unregulated, unconstitutional and arbitrary e-surveillance powers to
Government
of India and its agencies and instrumentalities. The fact is that India
has become an E-Police State,
as analysed by the ICT Trends of India
2009.
This
was also one of the main
concerns while denying
approval
to the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID)
Project of
India. The “suggestions”
of Mr. Praveen Dalal regarding privacy protection and prevention of
potential
misuse of information for political ends gathered through NATGRID were accepted
by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) of India.
In the end, the CCS withheld its nod and asked the Home Ministry to
come back
after further consultation with all stakeholders.
Similar,
fate can happen to
UID/UIDAI unless it/they come up with constitutionally sound
legislation in
their favour before starting this much needed project.
(5)
Cyber Security: Cyber Security
in India
has never been given a national level priority. As a result we do not
have a
very robust cyber security infrastructure in India.
The UID/UIDAI would collect tremendous “Information and
Database” that would be
next to impossible to protect in the absence of effective cyber
security
capabilities of India.
Crucial information and data may be stolen by crackers and identity
thieves. Till
now UID/UIDAI has not shown any progress in this regard.
(6) Data Leakage And
Breaches:
The cyber security and data security nightmare of UID/UIDAI has already
started
haunting them. The confidential working paper titled "Creating a Unique
Identity Number for Every Resident in India"
leaked on the Wikileaks. The leaked document also admitted that the
"UID
Database will be susceptible to attacks and leaks at various levels".
If
the confidential documents of the project itself are susceptible to
leakages
and breaches, we cannot expect “Confidentiality” of
the
sensitive information
and data proposed to be collected by UID/UIDAI.
(7)
Mutual
Disharmony: There
is also a
mutual disharmony among various authorities dealing with UID/UIDAI. For
instance, the Cabinet Secretary KM Chandrasekhar has opposed the use of
iris
recognition (IR) test as a part of UID project. Claiming the test has a
useless
expenditure, Chandrasekhar also requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
to omit
it as the third tool for the UID project.
Keep a close
watch for this
resource as we would be discussing more “Burning
Issues”
touching your “Human
Rights and Civil Liberties”.
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