Google News Censorship Increased Further

Google has been censoring news results for long. While censoring of unique identification authority of India (UIDAI) related posts is a very regular feature yet censorship and filtering of news regarding international organisations like World Bank and world intellectual property organisation (WIPO) is the latest trend.

For some strange reasons the article titled WIPO patent committee discussed tech transfer and public health has been filtered twice. There is no technical error and webmaster tool of Google is also not showing any error. Even the novel excuse of Google news server 503 error is also missing.

Google has been in controversies from time to time. Whether it is illegal data gathering, censorship of Google news searches, manipulation of search results, etc, Google has been doing it all.

Further, 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. Further, international loans and grants related posts questioning the role of World Bank and Indian government are also poorly placed in search results.

It is not clear why Google is doing so. But it would be safe to presume that Google is doing this to safeguard its own commercial interests in India even if means violating civil liberties of Indians. The draconian cyber law of India has finally started showing its true nature. Let us see what is waiting for us in future.

UID Project And UIDAI Are Instrumentalities Of Social Oppression

Aadhar project of India or UID project of India is often portrayed as a tool of social inclusion. But this is just a façade. The truth is that Aadhar is a tool and instrumentality of social oppression and social exploitation of Indians.

To achieve this exploitative purpose, unique identification authority of India (UIDAI) has been established. Despite the ferocious protests by civil liberty activists, neither Aadhar project nor UIDAI are empowered by a legal framework. Even the National Identification Authority of India Bill 2010 (Bill) has failed to provide adequate safeguards against privacy violations and data breaches.

Interestingly, even if the Bill proposed by UIDAI is made an enforceable law, it still remains unconstitutional. According to Praveen Dalal, Supreme Court Lawyer and leading Techno Legal Expert of India, even if the Bill becomes an enforceable piece of Legislation, it still is vulnerable to the attacks of “Unconstitutionality”. In the absence of “Proper Laws and Adequate Safeguards”, both Aadhar Project and UIDAI would remain “Unconstitutional”, warns Praveen Dalal.

The privacy rights issues are currently pending before the Supreme Court of India. It would be a good idea to strengthen Privacy and Data Protection Laws of India by “Judicial Activism” in the absence of “Parliamentary Will”, suggest Praveen Dalal.

Behind the façade of social inclusion and welfare scheme, the naked face of Aadhar and UIDAI is very apparent. Aadhar project is an instrumentality of e-surveillance in India. Its only purpose is to serve the unlawful interests of intelligence agencies of India and law enforcement demands in India.

Let us not be fooled by the façade of social inclusion and welfare scheme and ask the government of India to enact suitable and adequate privacy and data protection laws before Aadhar is fully operational in India.

Unique Identification Project Of India In Bad Shape

Unique identity (UID) project (UID Project) is a very ambitious and useful project of government of India. However, according to Praveen Dalal, the leading techno-legal expert of India and Managing Partner of Perry4Law, the Unique Identification Project of India is based upon lack of planning and foresight. The hit and trial attitude of the Government of India (GOI) coupled with the charitable tendencies to distribute the public money among corrupt officials of India without any transparency and accountability would once again fail another much needed project in India.

There are various “shortcomings” of the UID project of Indian government and the same would ultimately fail the project if necessary and corrective actions are not taken immediately, suggested Praveen Dalal.

See here for more.

Unique Identification Project Of India Needs A Legal Framework To Be Legitimate

According to experts, Unique Identification Project of India and Unique Identification Authority of India (UIAI) cannot be legitimate till there is a “legislative framework” duly supporting it. The same is presently missing in India. Similarly, concerns regarding data protection, privacy issues, cyber security, etc are also there to be addressed. The Parliament has to enact a Techno-Legal Statute in this regard to confer legitimacy to this much needed initiative.

Unique Identification Project (UIP) of India is gaining importance in India. It is also the need of the hour. The only requirement remains is that it must be implemented and enforced properly.

UIP not only requires a good legal support but properly trained manpower as well. The first step would be to formulate suitable policies and laws in this regard. Then we have to train sufficient number of people to manage this ambitious project.

According to Praveen Dalal, the leading Techno-Legal Expert of India and Managing Partner of Perry4Law Unique Identification Project of India is a much needed initiative and its importance cannot be undermined. However, no matter howsoever important a project may be, it must be done both legally and reasonably. If a project is not supported by a good and reasonable law, its importance is overshadowed by its fallacies and possible abuses, says Dalal.

Some issues those have to be resolved before implementing the UIP pertains to data protection, privacy protection, security of the information gathered, data management, etc. Similarly, contractual issues, information sharing and distribution, etc would also arise, opined Dalal.

The challenges before the Unique Identification Authority of India are numerous and manifold. It has already started gathering public opinions and inputs in this regard. Similarly, various stakeholders have also been consulted in this regard. This is the correct approach as a broader public acceptance can be obtained in this manner, says Dalal.

There are no hints of any legislation making pertaining to UIP and UIAI in the current winter session of the Parliament. Perhaps the government of India needs more time before making an important law in this much needed direction.

SOURCE: GROUND NEWS