Censorship And E-Surveillance Makes Aadhar Project And UIDAI Dangerous

Aadhar project and UIDAI are based upon deceit and deception. There is no legal framework, no defined policies and guidelines and most importantly no procedural and civil liberty safeguards.

However, nothing can match the evil practice of websites and Internet censorship in India done by Indian government, its agencies and commercial companies operating in India. For instance, Google has been censoring critical web posts regarding Aadhar project of India and unique identification authority of India (UIDAI) for the past two or more years. Further, it has also temporarily filtered some of our posts questioning the practice of World Bank to grant unaccountable loans to countries like India.

This article has been censored by Google News twice at this and this. Of course, this is neither a co incidence nor a technical glitch that Google is currently facing. The truth is that unaccountable, illegal and unconstitutional websites blocking, Internet censorship and e-surveillance exercise along with lack of legal framework makes Aadhar project and UIDAI very dangerous project and authority. These activities of censorship and e-surveillance are supported by the draconian cyber law of India. Citizens wake up before it is too late. Meanwhile here is the controversial interview that has been censored twice.

Unique identification project (UID project) or Aadhar project of India is always portrayed as a welfare scheme. In reality, Aadhar project and UIDAI have evil intentions. In fact, Aadhar project and UIDAI are the most evil projects of India till now.

What is more surprising is why this e-surveillance and big brother project has not been scrapped by the Prime Minister’s office (PMO). In this interview of Praveen Dalal, managing partner of New Delhi based ICT Law Firm Perry4Law and a Supreme Court Lawyer, he has shared his opinion and concerns regarding Aadhar project and UIDAI.

Q 1. Is India ready for a controversial project like Aadhar?

A 1. In my personal opinion, India is not yet ready for either Aadhar Project/UID Project or Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). In fact, both Aadhar and UIDAI are “Highly Undesirable” at this stage. Aadhar and UIDAI must be preceded by a Constitutionally Sound Legal Framework and Parliamentary Oversight. Both of these are missing presently making it an “Unconstitutional Project”.

Q 2. What is the process of making a constitutionally sound law in India?

A 2. Constitutionally preparation of a Legislation/Bill is the duty of Indian Government and it must be passed by the Parliament of India. In this case, an authority like UIDAI is suggesting the Bill that (UIDAI) itself is devoid of any Constitutional Validity. Indian Government must come up with its own Bill on Aadhar Project as even the Bill by UIDAI is mere “Eyewash” and does not make much difference. Even if it is passed by Parliament of India, the Unconstitutional Nature of the Aadhar Project and UIDA would remain the same.

Q-3. What are the serious concerns that have been ignored by Indian Government, UIDAI and Indian Cabinet?

A-3 I found it really surprising the way the Bill prepared by UIDAI was cleared by Cabinet and introduced in the Parliament. Many issues, including Profiling, Privacy Safeguards, Civil Liberties Protection, E-Surveillance, etc have been totally neglected by UIDAI and Cabinet and perhaps would be ignored by the Parliament of India as well.

Q 4. How do you see the present activities of Aadhar project and UIDAI?

A 4. The present exercise of taking Biometric Details of Indians is simply “Unconstitutional”. A Project and Authority without any Legal Sanction and Parliamentary Oversight cannot indulge in these activities on such a mass scale. I believe the Government of India is violating various Civil Liberties of Indian though Aadhar Project and UIDAI by making it, Directly and Indirectly, Relevant and Mandatory.

Q-5. Is Aadhar project and UIDAI still not governed by any legal framework and what are the recent developments in this regard?

A 5 Yes. Till now the position has not changed. Rather it has become worst where the District like Mysore has made UID Number Mandatory for various Public Services even though UIDAI claims it to be Optional. Practically UID never was, and never will be, Optional.

Q 6. What are the possible Civil Liberty violations that Indians can face in near future?

A 6. There are great chances that Biometric Details of Indian would be shared with Intelligence Agencies of India and Law Enforcement Agencies of India. Projects like National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID), Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS). Central Monitoring System (CMS), etc would love to utilise these Biometric Details.

India Is Not Ready For Cloud Computing

Lots of concerns have been raised regarding use cloud computing in India. Some of them have even challenged the desirability and rationale of use of cloud computing in India. Still cloud computing is a profitable industry and lots of commercial cloud computing vendors are pushing hard to impose the same for public delivery of services by Indian government.

India has no legal framework for cloud computing and cloud computing regulations in India are missing. India has no dedicated privacy laws, data protection laws and data security laws. Even leading techno legal expert of India Praveen Dalal believes that India should not use Software as a Service (SaaS) and cloud computing for crucial governmental services.

Further e-surveillance projects like Aadhar/UID project, national intelligence grid (Natgrid), crime and criminals tracking and networks systems (CCTNS), central monitoring system (CMS), etc are also beyond judicial scrutiny and Parliamentary oversight.

In these circumstances, use of cloud computing in India is a landmine for privacy violations. Indian government is imposing various projects without any legal framework and civil liberty safeguards. Any person or institution can take the sensitive and personal data of others and can use it for commercial purposes.

Take the example of telemarketing industry of India. The telecom policy of India is anti consumer that is openly violating privacy rights of Indians. The telemarketing lobby would never allow regulation of telemarketing calls and messages in India. Neither the ministry of communication and information technology nor the telecom regulatory authority of India (TRAI) is serious about protecting the privacy of Indian citizens.

Just like telemarketing, data and sensitive details, including biometric data held by unique identification authority of India (UIDAI), of Indians would pass into the hands of telemarketing industry and other commercial and advertisement companies.

In these circumstances, the only conclusion that is valid is that India is not yet ready for cloud computing and SaaS and adopting the same would be a big mistake on the part of Indian government.

Data Protection Law In India

Data protection is an important aspect of privacy rights protection and commercial expediency. On the one hand it ensures that privacy rights are respected by not divulging the sensitive information whereas on the other hand it is “must have” requirement of many business models.

Outsourcing industry relies heavily upon a sufficient and strong data protection law. In the Indian context, outsourcing industry is relying upon contractual terms as there is no dedicated data protection law in India. This is also hampering the outsourcing business to a great extent.

However, although commercial aspects of data protection can be ignored to a certain limit, this cannot be said about the constitutional requirements of privacy protection in India.

According to Praveen Dalal, a Supreme Court lawyers and leading techno legal expert of India, we have no “Dedicated” Data Protection Law in India. Even India does not have a Data Security Law and Privacy Law. This makes the sensitive information and personal details of Indian Citizens “Highly Vulnerable” to misuse, informs Dalal.

If we analyse this situation in the light of recent e-surveillance projects of Indian government, the matter becomes worst. E-surveillance projects like Aadhar/UID, national intelligence grid (Natgrid), crime and criminals tracking networks and systems (CCTNS), central monitoring system (CMS), etc are not supported by any legal framework and parliamentary oversight.

What is ironical is that Intelligence Agencies of India and Law Enforcement Agencies of India themselves are not subject to any “Parliamentary Scrutiny”, informs Praveen Dalal. Indian Government must maintain a “Balance” between National Security and Civil Liberties, suggests Dalal.

When intelligence agencies are themselves outside the purview of parliamentary oversight and there are no privacy laws, data protection laws and data security laws, we cannot trust Indian government and its agencies much. Even the phone tapping in India is done in an unconstitutional manner in India.

In this background, it becomes absolutely essential for the Supreme Court of India to interfere. A writ petition regarding protection of privacy rights of an individual is already pending before the Supreme Court of India and let us hope the court would do the justice once more.

Intelligence Agencies Of India Need Parliamentary Oversight And Reforms

The intelligence agencies of India need urgent reforms and Parliamentary oversight. Presently, these agencies are enjoying a protection of secrecy, non accountability and lack of Parliamentary oversight.

Surprisingly, Parliament of India has been very lax in bringing these agencies under some sort of accountability and legislative oversight. The legislations like Official Secret Act provided immunity and blanket protection to the works of these agencies whereas other transparency legislation like Right to Information Act, 2005 are simply not applicable to them.

In the absence of any legal framework governing the functioning of these agencies and lack of Parliamentary oversight, how the performance and acts of these agencies can be analysed is a big question.

While none can dispute the importance of national security yet there should be a balance and reconciliation between national security and civil liberties in India. According to Praveen Dalal, a Supreme Court lawyer and leading techno legal expert of India, Projects like Aadhar/UID, National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID), Crime and Criminal Tracking and Systems (CCTNS), Central Monitoring System (CMS), etc are required for National Security but Civil Liberties and Fundamental Rights are also of Prime Importance.

Thus, when civil liberties are neglected for the sake of some assumed national security, it is a constitutional failure. For instance, the present unconstitutional phone tapping practices adopted by Indian government and its security and intelligence agencies has already become a constitutional failure. If Parliament of India does not intervene immediately, people would loose faith upon constitution of India.

The truth is that intelligence agencies of India need urgent Parliamentary oversight and administrative reforms.