Note: MS Word version of the letter is attached.

Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL)

To

Shri Ram Nath Kovind
Hon’ble President of India
Rashtrapati Bhavan
New Delhi- 110001

Through Secretary to the President

Date: August 1, 2017

Subject- National security and integrity under threat from Central
Identities Data Repository (CIDR) of 12-digit biometric data based
Unique Identification (UID)/Aadhaar Numbers of Indian residents

Respected Rashtrapati Jee,

Greetings from Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL)!

We wish you an illustrious tenure as 14th President of India.
This is to seek your urgent attention towards citizens’ opposition to
the Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR) of 12-digit biometric
data based Unique Identification (UID)/Aadhaar Numbers of Indian
residents. It is linked to more than a century old world famous
'Satyagraha' of Mahatma Gandhi in order to oppose the identification
scheme of the government in South Africa. On 22nd August, 1906, the
South African government published a draft Asiatic Law Amendment
Ordinance. The Ordinance required all Indians in the Transvaal region
of South Africa, eight years and above, to report to the Registrar of
Asiatics and obtain, upon the submission of a complete set of
fingerprints, a certificate which would then have to be produced upon
demand. The move proposed stiff penalties, including deportation, for
Indians who failed to comply with the terms of the Ordinance. Knowing
the impact of the Ordinance and effective criminalisation of the
entire community, Mahatma Gandhi then decided to challenge it. Calling
the Ordinance a 'Black Act' he mobilised around 3,000 Indians in
Johannesburg who took an oath not to submit to a degrading and
discriminatory piece of legislation. Biometric UID/Aadhaar case
demonstrates how 'Those who forget history are condemned to repeat
it'.

We wish to draw your attention towards a chapter titled "On the Map:
Making Surveillance Work" under the section Revolutions in the
International Monetary System in the book Silent Revolution: The
International Monetary Fund 1979-1989, IMF commiserates with the
lesser mortals stating that it knows that 'surveillance' does sound
terrible. The chapter in the book, which was published by the IMF in
2001, deals with the principles and procedures of surveillance. IMF is
part of the World Bank Group which is repeatedly being cited
approvingly before the 9-Judge Constitution Bench of the Hon’ble
Supreme Court by the Attorney General of India in the course of the
hearing underway in Writ Petition (Civil) 494 of 2012. World Bank was
cited today as well on several occasions. IMF admits that:
"Surveillance, a central pillar of IMF activities and responsibilities
in the modern era, is not an easy concept to grasp." It will have us
accept that only the heads of public institutions can grasp and
communicate the meaning of 'surveillance'.

It may be noted that Jacob A Frenkel, an IMF official is quoted in the
book. He argues that the word 'surveillance' should be made to sound
benign. It "should give way to concepts of cooperation, partnership,
and consultation; of bringing on board the rest of the world's
considerations." This publication states, "In practice, surveillance
has encapsulated all of the above notions, but at its best it has been
motivated by and has itself promoted a spirit of international
cooperation."

This publication informs that the first official use of the term came
in June 1974. IMF was concerned that "Few, if any countries, however,
were prepared to be subjected to surveillance in that strong sense.
The 1980s therefore became a decade of experimentation, in which the
staff and management of the Fund constantly probed and prodded to see
how far they could go in persuading countries to respond positively to
Fund analysis and advice."

This IMF publication states, "If surveillance was to have any
substance, the Fund would have to develop that influence: through the
power of persuasion (Fund management and staff to country
authorities), through peer pressure (country to country in the forum
of the Fund), and through publicity (Fund to the public). The relative
merit of each of these channels was always the subject of much debate.
Was publicity appropriate, or would it conflict with and even nullify
the benefits of persuasion and peer pressure?"

IMF asks itself, "Did surveillance mean that the IMF was expected to
be a financial Interpol, seeking out and punishing errant behavior, or
should its role be more that of a faithful confidant of those
entrusted with implementing macroeconomic policies around the world?"
Have most public institutions in India become "a faithful confidant"
of World Bank Group?
We submit that there is a revelation in the publication that IMF is
concerned with the "viability of military spending" as well. IMF took
a formal position on the role of military spending in national
economic policy in October 1991. At that time, executive directors
concluded that, "as military expenditure can have an important bearing
on a member's fiscal policy and external position, information about
such expenditure may be necessary to permit a full and internally
consistent assessment of the member's economic position and policies".
If this is not an exercise in surveillance, which admittedly sounds
'terrible', what else is it?
We submit that the old maxim, 'if you have nothing to hide, you have
nothing to fear' has been given a very public burial in digital age.
This has been thoroughly debunked. This myth is attributed to Nazi
propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. Database State, a report from the
UK states, 'In October 2007, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs
(Department) lost two discs containing a copy of the entire child
benefit database.' Only blind faith in a Utopian State can persuade
people to think that they have nothing to fear after trusting their
personal sensitive information to a 'Database State'.

We submit that authorities have failed to appreciate that several
countries including the US, the UK, Australia, China, Canada and
Germany have tried such projects but aborted them midway. Biometric
profiling based identification schemes like UID/Aadhaar are inherently
dangerous because it tracks individuals based on their religious,
behavioural and/or biological traits. History is replete with examples
wherein such profiling has been used for genocide, holocaust and
violence against all kinds of minorities. The promoters of biometric
UID/Aadhaar Number are promoting digital caste system and digital
racism. Mr Jacob Appelbaum, computer security researcher, hacker,
activist, and a spokesperson for WikiLeaks has warned, biometric
Aadhaar/"UID will create a digital caste system because going by the
way it is now being implemented, if you choose not to be part of the
system, you will be the modern-day equivalent of an outcast. In
theory, you are supposed to have the freedom to choose but in reality,
the choice will only be whether to be left out and left behind".

We submit that the operation model overview for the Aadhaar
authentication indicates that there is no provision to verify the
written consent of any person to share biometric information. "Before
implementing any biometric application, the Army must undertake a
thorough legal analysis of exactly what it wants to do and where it
wants to do it" concluded John D Woodward, Jr et al in Legal
Assessment: Legal concerns raised by the U.S. Army’s Use of Biometrics
published by RAND Corporation. This implies that besides application
in defence, the civilian and defence application of biometric
profiling in India also merits legal attention. As a consequence,
biometric profiling for UID/aadhaar is indeed a big deal.

We submit that in the meanwhile, Secretary Department of Defence
Production, Union Ministry of Defence has been asked to introduce
Aadhaar enabled Biometric Attendance System in the department of
defence production. The system would enable an employee with an
Aadhaar number to register his/her attendance (arrival/departure) in
the office through biometric authentication. It also says that a web
based application software system will enable online recording of
attendance and that the dash board relating to real time attendance
and related statistics, can be viewed by everyone.

We submit that the proposal of application of biometric UID/Aadhaar
was initially restricted to ‘civilian application’ and was not meant
for defence application. Central Government’s Biometrics Standards
Committee had categorically stated that UID/aadhaar’s is meant only
for “civilian application” but the order on aadhaar enabled biometric
attendance system has been extended to defence employees as well. The
fact remains UID was first adopted by USA’s Department of Defence. It
has subsequently been pushed through World Bank’s etransform
Initiative in partnership with France, South Korea, Gemalto, IBM, L1,
Microsoft, Intel and Pfizer. L1 was a US a company when it got a
contract from UIDAI but it got purchased by French Conglomerate Safran
Group after security clearance by US Government. This constitutes
breach of national security as no such clearance was granted by
Government of India. Some of these companies have partnership with
Chinese Government as well. The entire information of the employees
working in the department of defence production, which will include
related statistics, will be stored online and on cloud will be
available to everybody. Besides application of UID/aadhaar in the
Department of defence production not being in national interest making
it available to everyone and on the cloud, including to the foreign
companies like Safran Group, its L1 Solutions, Accenture and Ernst &
Young will violate the order of Hon’ble Court.

It is evident that the coverage of defence employees under UID/Aadhaar
enabled Biometric Attendance System does establish conclusively that
it UID/Aadhaar is being put to defence application contrary to the
claim of the government. There is a logical compulsion for withdrawing
the letter and all consequential letters by which UID/Aadhaar is made
applicable to defence application i.e. Department of Defence
Production in the interest of supreme national security.

We submit that biometric profiling is inherently dangerous because it
tracks individuals based on their religious, behavioural and/or
biological traits. History is replete with examples wherein such
profiling has been used for genocide, holocaust and violence against
all kinds of minorities.

We submit that colonial powers had suspect identification offices in
Egypt and Bengal, India after the development of biometric
identification by Sir Francis Galton, an English eugenicist who
supported slavery. In Imprint of Raj: How Fingerprinting was born in
Colonial India (2003), Chandak Sengoopta reveals how biometric
identification technique was fine-tuned by the Bengal Police. Eugenics
and slavery has long been abandoned, the scientific claims of
biometrics too have been found to be dubious by reputed institutions.
We submit that the word 'surveillance' is being made to sound benign
as desired by international financial institutions and irresponsible
officials and former officials.

We submit that linking of biometric Unique Identification
(UID)/Aadhaar number to all public services is designed to cause
“civil death”. Civil death is the loss of all or almost all civil
rights by a person caused by the government of a country. It is clear
that denial of rights in the absence of UID/Aadhaar is an act of
coercion that would lead to civil death, this tantamounts to
normalisation of cruelty towards Indian residents. It creates a
compelling logic for scrapping of the biometric identification
exercise.

We submit that millions of citizens are be denied their rights because
of UID/Aadhaar because the Aadhaar Act makes access to many essential
and other public services contingent on UID/Aadhaar. It is already
evident that making it compulsory in food distribution in some states
has excluded many needy and deserving citizens without cause.
We submit that the Aadhaar Act allows for unprecedented surveillance
of every citizen and massive denial of fundamental rights. These can
be used by governments at different levels to target political
opponents and dissidents, as well as others. It enables sharing of
personal sensitive information of Indian residents with private
foreign companies. It renders all Indians vulnerable to identity
theft, fraud, cyber-piracy, data breaches and other uses of their
personal data with very serious security implications.

We submit that it is possible that such civilian and non-civilian
applications are being bulldozed by some commercial entities in order
to store and read biometric and DNA script of Indian population in the
aftermath of the sequencing of Human Genome for epigenetics, medicine,
big data, social control, inheritance, eugenics and genetic
determinism.

Now that the Constitution Bench is recognized the urgency of the issue
in question, we seek your attention to persuade the Hon’ble Court to
ponder over the following questions:
• Will foreign companies like Ernst & Young, Safran, L1 Identities
Solution and Accenture that admittedly work with US security and
intelligence agencies who were awarded contracts on 30 July, 2010 for
implementation of aadhaar/UID Number protect US national interest or
India's national interest in the aftermath of Patriot Act taking
cognisance of disclosures by Shri Edward Snowden and Wikileaks?
• The manifesto titled “2083: A European Declaration of Independence”
brought out by Norwegian gunman and neo-Crusader, Anders Behring
Breivik who carried out the heinous attacks on his fellow citizens is
actually a unique identity manifesto as well. This manifesto refers to
the word "identity" over 100 times, "unique" over 40 times and
"identification" over 10 times. There is reference to "state-issued
identity cards", "converts’ identity cards", "identification card",
"fingerprints", "DNA" etc. Is it not true that only a misanthrope can
approve of it?

We submit that the Aadhaar/UID project is going to do almost exactly
the same thing which the predecessors of Hitler did, else how is it
that Germany always had the lists of Jewish names even prior to the
arrival of the Nazis? The Nazis got these lists with the help of IBM
which was in the 'census' business that included racial census that
entailed not only count the Jews but also identifying them. At the US
Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, there is an exhibit of an IBM
Hollerith D-11 card sorting machine that was responsible for
organising the census of 1933 that first identified the Jews. Instead
of following Hon’ble Court’s orders State Governments are unthinkingly
compelling Indians to get UID/Aadhaar else face civil death.

We submit that the advertising and public relations blitzkrieg
unleashed by biometric identification and surveillance technology
vendors have clouded the minds of judicial, political and media
fraternity. The dangers of trusting such technological advances for
determining social policies will consequent in a situation where “[A]
warrant requirement will not make much difference to a society that,
under the sway of a naive and discredited theory of genetic
determinism, is willing to lock people away on the basis of their
genes” among other adverse effects. We submit that this entire issue
is about denial of fundamental rights by the emergence of an unlimited
government.

We submit that this is open declaration of war against citizens’
sensitive personal information like biometric data by transnational
entities and governments captured by them paves way for the
enslavement of present and future generations through biometric
UID/Aadhaar database that lies on cloud beyond Indian jurisdiction.
Such initiatives must be stopped and boycotted else it will spread its
tentacles in every sphere of life and mobility in the country.

We submit that you should consider inviting testimony from Shri
Assange, Shri Snowden and Indian researchers, jurists and relevant
current and former scientists who have put their lives at risk to tell
Indian government, Indians and others that they are being spied upon
by foreign governments, banks and transnational surveillance
technology companies for the protection of Indians including present
and future Presidents, Prime Ministers, judges, legislators and
officials handling sensitive assignments.

We submit that a unanimous resolution of the West Bengal Assembly
against UID/Aadhaar number passed on December 2, 2013 in supreme
public interest. Pursuant to the West Bengal Assembly Resolution on
UID/Aadhaar, West Bengal Chief Minister has issued a statement on
March 4, 2017 saying, "In the name of Aadhaar, privacy is being lost
and there is extortion. Why is this Govt so negative? As a nation, we
must condemn this.” Even the opposition party of the State has issued
statements expressing grave concern about involvement of questionable
foreign agencies in the UID/Aadhaar project.

When questions were raised about this being a defence application of
aadhaar contrary to the initial promise of it being a civilian
application Department of Electronics and Information Technology (now
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology), responded
stating, “Aadhaar is being used for Biometric Attendance System and
this does not form part of Defence application”.

The fact is that the application of biometric Unique Identification
(UID)/Aadhaar Number was restricted to ‘civilian application’ and was
not meant for defence application. Central Government’s Biometrics
Standards Committee had categorically stated that UID/Aadhaar’s is
meant only for “civilian application” but the order on aadhaar enabled
biometric attendance system has been extended to defence employees as
well. Now the entire information of the employees working in the
department of defence production, which will include related
statistics, will be stored online and on cloud will be available to
everybody. It cannot be said that application of UID/Aadhaar in the
Department of defence production is in national interest becasuse it
is making defence employees visible to everyone on the computing
cloud.
Government argues, “Attendance of Govt. employees is already being
maintained and the Biometric Attendance System, maintained by the
attendance.gov.in is just digital equivalent of the age-old attendance
register. This is part of contractual relationship between the Public
Servant and the Employer, viz. the Government of India, wherein the
former has consented to/agreed to the terms of service and is
therefore, contractually bound to follow the rules and regulations as
specified for him by his/her employer.”

It will have us believe that there is no difference between “age-old
attendance register” and UID/Aadhaar enabled Biometric Attendance
System. Similar arguments have been advanced by the Attorney General
in his submission before the Hon’ble Supreme Court. During the course
of his submission he contended that Hon’ble Court’s employees are also
subjected to biometric profiling based attendance implying that the
day is not far when judicial officers and judges too will have to do
the same. It is noteworthy that citing the Hon’ble Court’s orders, the
Jammu & Kashmir High Court Bench has stayed a government order
regarding the installation of Aadhaar Enabled Biometric System (AEBAS)
in government departments to ensure the attendance of employees in
their respective departments by its order dated October 4, 2016. This
order was passed after the notification of Aadhaar Act, 2016 on
September 12, 2016.

In order to comprehend the sophistry involved in averments regarding
biometric attendance by Attorney General and Law, Electronics and
Information Technology Minister, it is germane to recall the
intervention of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in the case
wherein Indian students in USA were made to wear biometric radio
collars. NHRC ensured that the government acted to ensure that the
human rights of students are protected. It is germane to note that
radio collar is based on biometric data like voice print. If making
Indian students wear biometric radio collar constitutes an act which
Government of India admitted as an act of violation of human rights,
indiscriminate biometric profiling is also an act of violation of
human rights. As per Section 2 (G) of Aadhaar Act 2016, “biometric
information” means photograph, fingerprint, Iris scan, or any other
biological attributes specified by regulations.
Thus, it clearly includes biological attributes like voice print and DNA.

 If UID/Aadhaar enabled Biometric Attendance System is indeed a
“digital equivalent” of “age-old attendance register”, why did NHRC
and Ministry of External Affairs object to radio collar which can also
be argued by sophists to be “digital equivalent”. If the “digital
equivalent” means biometric equivalent as well then it makes DNA based
identity and attendance will also be deemed equivalent to “age-old
attendance register”. It is quite evident that such is deeply
misleading.

There is a logical compulsion for withdrawing the letter and all
consequential letters by which UID/Aadhaar is made applicable to
defence application i.e. Department of Defence Production in the
interest of supreme national security. The coverage of defence
employees under Aadhaar enabled Biometric Attendance System implies
that it Aadhaar is being put to defence application contrary to
government’s claims.

With regard to the issue related to national security, in Rajya Sabha,
Minister of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) who is
responsible for Unique Identification of Authority of India (UIDAI)
gave an evasive reply when he was asked a question (Unstarred Question
No-2792) on “Misuse of Aadhaar cards and data collected under UID
scheme” by Dr. K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao. The extremely specific
questions were: a) whether it is a fact that a Pakistani spy caught in
New Delhi in October carried an Aadhaar card issued in his name? (b)
if so, whether the system of issuing Aadhaar cards is faulty or lacks
proper supervision; and (c) whether Government is assessing the
possibility of misuse of Aadhaar cards and the data collected under
the UID scheme?

The minister replied saying, “(a) to (c): UIDAI only issues Aadhaar to
the residents of the country. Aadhaar is not a proof of citizenship or
nationality.” It is classic example of an irrelevant response from the
central government.

In his exemplary performance, the minister added, “The methodology
approved for issuance of unique identity for every resident of the
country involves use of certain basic demographic information combined
with ten finger prints, both irises and photograph to uniquely
identify a resident through a process of de-duplication.” His reply
does not answer query about Pakistani spy caught in New Delhi in
October who carried the 12-digit biometric unique identification
(UID)/Aadhaar issued in his name.

The minister further said, “The demographic and biometric attributes
of residents are collected by various agencies of the Central and the
State Governments and others who, in normal course of their
activities, interact with the residents. These entities are
‘Registrars’ of the UIDAI. The information is subsequently uploaded by
these agencies to UIDAI where it undergoes a number of quality checks
and biometric de-duplication before an Aadhaar is generated.”  This
reply does not explain whether the system of issuing Aadhaar cards is
faulty or lacks proper supervision.  It maintains studied silence
about the role of foreign biometric de-duplication companies.

The minister said, “The verification procedure for demographic data
submitted by the resident during enrolment includes supporting
documents, introducer system and National Population Register process
of public scrutiny. Major portion of the enrolment is document based.
There are well defined lists of Proof of Identity (PoI) and Proof of
Address (PoA). Under document based enrolment, a resident has to
submit any of the PoI/PoA from the said list.”
He did not inform the Parliament that the then Chairman of UIDAI has
been given ID Limelight Award at the ID WORLD International Congress,
2010 in Milan, Italy on 16th November wherein Safran Morpho (Safran
group) was a key sponsor of the ID Congress. Its subsidiary, Sagem
Morpho Security Pvt Ltd has been awarded contract for the purchase of
Biometric Authentication Devices on February 2, 2011 by the UIDAI.
Coincidentally, in 2009 a similar award was given to the head of
Pakistan’s National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) which
successfully implemented a UID/Aadhaar like project, which has been
shared with authorities in USA as per cables leaked by Wikileaks.

In such a backdrop, the question raised by Dr. K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao
in Rajya Sabha about biometric Aadhaar issued to a Pakistani spy
remains quite relevant from the point of national security.

It may be recalled that on July 30, 2010, in a joint press release, it
was announced that “the Mahindra Satyam and Morpho led consortium has
been selected as one of the key partners to implement and deliver the
Aadhaar program by UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India).”
This means that at least two contracts have been awarded to the French
conglomerate led consortium. Is it a coincidence that Morpho (Safran
group) sponsored the award to Chairman, UIDAI and the former got a
contract from the latter?
It is apparent that UIDAI Chief has been given the award "For being
the force behind a transformational project ID project in India...and
"to provide identification cards for each resident across the country
and would be used primarily as the basis for efficient delivery of
welfare services. It would also act as a tool for effective monitoring
of various programs and schemes of the government."

It may also be noted that UIDAI awarded contracts to three companies
namely, Satyam Computer Services Ltd (Mahindra Satyam), as part of a
“Morpho led consortium”, L-1 Identity Solutions Operating Company and
Accenture Services Pvt Ltd of US for the “Implementation of Biometric
Solution for UIDAI” on July 30, 2010. Notably, L1 which had signed the
contract agreement as a US based company (subject to USA’s Patriot
Act) has been bought over by Safran Group after US Government’s
national security clearance.

In his reply the minister claimed that “There are well defined
processes and guidelines of Aadhaar enrolment that the Registrars and
Enrolment Agencies are bound to follow. A proper deterring mechanism
is in place discouraging any deviation from these laid down processes
and guidelines. The complete trail of each and every enrolment is
maintained. There is provision for concurrent evaluation of the
Enrolment Centres.“  If that is indeed the case it must be revealed as
to who allowed the provision of personal sensitive data of Indian
residents to remain with the above mentioned foreign companies in the
contract agreement compromising present and future national security.

In his reply the minister also claimed that “Aadhaar is generated
after a number of quality checks and biometric de-duplication. Every
attempt is made to ensure that fake/bogus enrolments are identified
through quality checks and biometric de-duplication process, and
rejected. In a miniscule number of cases, where an ineligible
enrolment may slip through, there are provisions for taking action
against the delinquent operator/supervisor/enrolment agency; financial
penalties; and criminal proceedings by lodging of FIR, besides
cancellation of such Aadhaars.”  This claim is factually incorrect.

The making of CIDR is contrary to the principle of decentralisation in
cybersecurity.  Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other
Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 (18 of 2016) lists
breaking into CIDR as an offence but this law criminalises a
technological impossibility. In a bizarre act, it provides that only
UIDAI can file a complaint when the data of a resident of India is
misused or abused instead of the victim of abuse.

As per Section 47, “Courts will take cognizance of offences under this
Act only upon complaint being made by the UIDAI or any officer
authorised by it.” This deprives the victim of a right to file
complaint although Section 34 of the Act provides that “Impersonating
or attempting to impersonate another person by providing false
demographic or biometric information will punishable by imprisonment
of up to three years, and/or fine of up to ten thousand rupees.”
Victims cannot file complaint even when someone changes or attempts to
change any demographic or biometric information of an Aadhaar number
holder by impersonating another person (or attempting to do so), with
the intent of i) causing harm or mischief to an Aadhaar number holder,
or ii) appropriating the identity of an Aadhaar number holder although
it is punishable under Section 35.

Victims of abuse cannot file complaint in cases wherein collection of
identity information is done by one not authorised by this Act, by way
of pretending otherwise despite the fact that the Act makes it
punishable under Section 36.  Unless authorized by UIDAI or any
officer authorised by it, victims cannot file complaint even when
there is “Intentional disclosure or dissemination of identity
information, to any person not authorised under this Act, or in
violation of any agreement entered into under this Act” under Section
37 although it is punishable.

Unless authorised by the UIDAI, the intentional acts like accessing or
securing access to the CIDR; downloading, copying or extracting any
data from the CIDR; introducing or causing any virus or other
contaminant into the CIDR; damaging or causing damage to the data in
the CIDR; disrupting or causing disruption to access to CIDR; causing
denial of access to an authorised to the CIDR; revealing information
in breach of (D) in Section 28, or Section 29; destruction, deletion
or alteration of any files in the CIDR; stealing, destruction,
concealment or alteration of any source code used by the UIDAI , will
be punishable under Section 38.

Even in such cases victims cannot file complaint without authorization
by UIDAI.
Section 39 of the Act reads, “Tampering of data in the CIDR or
removable storage medium, with the intention to modify or discover
information relating to Aadhaar number holder will be punishable”.
Thus, it admits that such acts are possible and imminent but the Act
does not empower the victims of such tampering or removal instead it
empowers UIDAI.
While Section 40 makes “Use of identity information in violation of
Section 8 (3) by a requesting entity will be punishable with
imprisonment up to three years and/or a fine up to ten thousand rupees
(in case of an individual), and fine up to one lakh rupees (in case of
a company)”, it is incomprehensible as to how a company or an
individual feel deterred by such meager punishment when they can
harvest big database of personal sensitive information which is
admittedly a “national asset” and “rich asset”.

Section 43 of the Act visualize a situation wherein offences can be
committed by a Company but they can be excused “if they can prove lack
of knowledge of the offense or that they had exercised all due
diligence to prevent it.” It also underlines the possibility of an
offence committed by a Company with the consent, connivance or neglect
of a director, manager, secretary or other officer of a company but
they too can be excused if they can prove their ignorance, inability
and inevitability.

In a stark admission of the involvement of foreign locations and
persons, Section 44 states that the Act “will also apply to offences
committed outside of India by any person, irrespective of their
nationality, if the offence involves any data in the CIDR.” This is
akin to what is happening in the case of Union Carbide Corporation,
subsidiary of Dow Chemicals Company whose case is going in a Bhopal
Court for the offences committed outside of India related to its
Bhopal based pesticide plant.  The offences include decisions taken by
it about not providing for safety in the plant. Dow has refused to
appear before the Court despite repeated orders of the Court. How can
the situation be different when CIDR database is compromised
endangering national security?

These provisions underline the possibility of abuse and misuse of
sensitive data of defence employees in particular and citizens in
general by foreign entities as well.

It is possible that such civilian and non-civilian applications are
being bulldozed by some commercial entities in order to store and read
biometric and DNA script of Indian population in the aftermath of the
sequencing of Human Genome for epigenetics, medicine, big data, social
control, inheritance, eugenics and genetic determinism. Under the
tremendous influence and unprecedented onslaught from unregulated and
ungovernable technology companies, so far Central Government and State
Governments have failed to safeguard national security and citizens’
liberty which is part of right to life. In such a context, it is
germane to ponder over the question about issuance of UID/Aadhaar to
Pakistani spy caught in New Delhi. Who exactly is behind denial of
exact reply to the question? Is there any reason to assume that other
foreign nationals have not intruded the system like the spy in
question?

UID/Aadhaar is akin to a piece of collar which the transnational
powers want to tie on the neck of present and future Indian citizens.
Government has allowed itself to be misled and it has failed to
protect personal sensitive information which has already gone to
foreign companies and continues to flow in foreign direction. While
countries like China, USA, UK, France, Germany, Phillipines and
Australia have secured themselves by abandoning their UID project,
India is following the path of Pakistan which has compromised its
national security and citizens’ personal sensitive information through
National Database Registration Authority (NADRA). It is now up to the
Supreme Court to set matters right before the neglected spark burns
the house learning from the smoke in the neighborhood.

In view of the above, we solemnly and earnestly appeal to you to save
the present and future citizens from unlimited government, genocide,
holocaust and foreign aggression in supreme national interest. Your
urgent intervention will create compelling logic for extraordinary
patriotic steps which can set a healthy precedent for all times to
come.

We will be happy to meet you as a delegation in this regard. A
detailed note is attached to underline its connection with other
initiatives which has not been disclosed so far.

Thanking you in anticipation.

Yours Sincerely
Dr Gopal Krishna
Member, Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL)*
Mb: 9818089660, 08227816731
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.toxicswatch.org

*CFCL had appeared before the Parliamentary Standing on Finance that
examined and trashed the Aadhaar Bill, 2010. CFCL has authored over
hundred articles on the subject of Big Data and biometric-digital
profiling based identification and surveillance technologies.

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Attachment: Note UID Aadhaar its strategic connections.docx
Description: MS-Word 2007 document

Attachment: CFCL Letter to President of India August 1, 2017.docx
Description: MS-Word 2007 document

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