A conflict of interest is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another and are in a position to derive personal or private benefit from actions or decisions made in a larger official capacity and at the cost of their official responsibility.
UIDAI and Aadhaar are replete with instances of conflicts of interests, connections with dubious foreign organizations, access to data to foreign and other private organizations and more that raise serious questions about whose interests are served by Aadhaar and whether these interests are compatible with democracy, fundamental rights and national interest.
In the latest addition to the ever-expanding Aadhaar ecosystem, Aurangabad-based Strides Software Solutions has launched the ‘d-health’ application, which is touted to be a unique donor engagement platform connecting the various stakeholders involved in blood donations. By centralizing donor registration, the app facilitates donor filtration, helping determine whether the donor Read more…
In October 2017, the RBI announced a high level task force that would study and help set up a transparent and comprehensive public credit registry (PCR). The RBI's PCR was intended to be "an extensive database of credit information for India that is accessible to all stakeholders". The PCR was intended to help improve efficiencies in the Indian credit market, aid financial inclusion, help control deliquencies and in general improve the ease of doing business. (more…)
The Lokniti Foundation is a secretive organisation with no website, no presence on social media, and no public list of trustees. Their registered office is a sealed building in south Delhi's outskirts. According to its brochure, it is a non-profit established "with the primary objective to improve the quality of Read more…
Recently the UK based company, Cambridge Analytica has been in the news for illegally harvesting user data from Facebook and enabling the use of this stolen data to influence the US Presidential election in 2016 in favour of Donald Trump. Cambridge Analytica has also been linked to several other elections including the Brexit referendum that led to Britain leaving the EU. (more…)
Frequent warnings by banks and police are apparently not the solution to combating debit/credit card fraud. The Hindu reports that Cyber Cell officials in Kerala's Kozhikode district are discovering three new cases every month on average. The victims are usually educated middle-class families or the elderly, and many are yet Read more…
The Supreme Court's Constitution Bench grilled the government's lawyers on Aadhaar's potential to prevent bank fraud, reports The Economic Times. During the ongoing hearings to determine the Constitutional validity of Aadhaar, the Bench countered the government's claim that linking the unique identification number with bank accounts had helped curb black Read more…
If there is one thing the Indian state machinery excels at, it is unleashing legal terrorism against whistleblowers. The fight against Aadhaar has its own stars studding the dark. Here they are, in recognition of their work and in gratitude that they spoke truth to power. Even in the face Read more…
It is predictable. No matter how dangerous a breach is reported, the UIDAI's response is only to deny that there is any problem, because the biometrics are not leaked. Yes, the authority in charge of the security of the personal information provided by the entire country is so ignorant on Read more…