NOTE: Will RTI friends in Bangalore please not forward our groups' postings outside and especially to journalists. This article which refers to me and some posts from this group has come at an inconvenient time (my CIC hearing against UIDAI is tomorrow) and I am now the Complainant in the case of the leak of UIDAI's Confidential documents - which is now a national security matter.
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Website+claims+leakage++of+documents&artid=b/jNZpO5HR0=&SectionID=Qz/kHVp9tEs=&MainSectionID=wIcBMLGbUJI=&SectionName=UOaHCPTTmuP3XGzZRCAUTQ==&SEO= Website claims leakage of documents Jayadevan P K First Published : 16 Nov 2009 02:29:00 AM IST Last Updated : 16 Nov 2009 07:51:32 AM IST BANGALORE: A website has claimed to have published a confidential file, which gives details on the government's Unique Identification (UID) number project. The website www.wikileaks.org, widely known for publishing anonymous submissions and leaks of government, corporate or religious documents, on Friday published a file titled `Confidential plans for 1.2 billion ID cards: Creating an unique ID for every resident in India.' The website's disclosure comes at a time when RTI activists are fighting a pitched battle with the Unique Identification Number Authority of India (UIDAI) demanding information on the project. The file (a copy of which is with Express) is a forty-page document, which talks about various aspects of the UID project, including the enrolment process, costs, process of updating, biometrics, recording deaths, ways of ensuring strong authentication of UID, the technology aspects of UID, fraud scenarios and challenges of scale. While the file appears to say most of what UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilkeni has been discussing in public forums, the authenticity of the file and the `leak' could not be verified. The document states: "The UIDAI will employ a GIS Internet-based visual reporting system to track enrolment trends and patterns across India, as the project is rolled out across various Registrars and states." On privacy issues, the document says, the UIDAI will be authorised to collect basic information such as name, place of birth, date of birth etc from a person who voluntarily seeks a UID. It also says that it will have the right to call for information and records, conduct inspections, inquiries and audit of the Central ID Data Repository, Registrars, enrolling agencies and service providers. The document states that a law will contain, `penal provisions against persons employed by, or associated directly or indirectly with the UIDAI, CIDR, Registrars, enrolling agencies and other service providers for breach of certain key sections of legislation, including the specific prohibitions on profiling, the disclosure of information and maintenance of confidentiality etc.' The UIDAI has come under criticism for `not responding to various RTI requests.' A discussion forum, quotes an RTI user saying that the Central Information Commission (CIC) has undertaken a prima-facie enquiry into his complaint (filed online) that the Authority was not complying with mandate of RTI Act to disclose its workings /processes proactively and involve the Indian public in its decision-making process. "The CIC's first-level inquiry has found merit in my complaint and has summoned the seniormost officer of UIDAI (not Nandan Nilekani) to appear before it next week. A senior officer of the Planning Commission has also been summoned along with him - as an issue has arisen if the UIDAI is an `authority' or merely an `attached office' of the Planning Commission," the forum quotes.
