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.

Aadhar Project And UIDAI Must Be Scrapped

One of the most controversial projects of India is unique identification project of India (UID project of India) or Aadhar project of India. The Aadhar project is openly and blatantly violating various civil liberties of Indian citizens. Even the unique identification authority of India (UIDAI) is devoid of any constitutional and legal status.

If Aadhar project and UIDAI are clearly unconstitutional project/authority why is Indian government wasting crores of money upon them? This is the most frustrating aspect of Aadhar project and UIDAI.

The only answer seems to be so that the Indian government can enhance its e-surveillance capabilities by clubbing Aadhar project with national population register (NPR) of India, national intelligence grid (Natgrid), crime and criminal tracking network and systems (CCTNS), etc. These are only known projects and there may be many projects that Indian citizens may not be aware of.

According to Praveen Dalal, Supreme Court lawyer and leading techno legal expert of India, there is no second opinion about the fact that Aadhar Project and UIDAI are “Unconstitutional” in the absence of a “Constitutionally Sound Law” in this regard. This is more so when there are no dedicated Privacy Laws in India and Data Protection Laws in India, opines Praveen Dalal.

Surprisingly, the government of India has deliberately abstained from enacting suitable privacy and data protection laws in India. On the contrary, it amended the sole cyber law of India contained in the information technology act 2000 (IT Act 2000) through the information technology amendment act, 2008 (IT Act 2008).

After this amendment, unregulated, unaccountable and unconstitutional powers were obtained by Indian government regarding e-surveillance and electronic eavesdropping in India. This amendment was primarily made to accommodate projects like Natgrid, Aadhar, CCTNS, etc.

Even there is no lawful interception law in India. The present E-Surveillance and Phone Tapping practices adopted by India are “Unconstitutional” in the absence of a Constitutionally Sound Lawful Interception Law, says Praveen Dalal.

If we analyse the entire scenario, there are very strong ground to scrap Aadhar project and UIDAI till proper legal framework is at place. May be our Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh would take initiative in this regard before it is too late.

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.

Data Protection Law In India Is Urgently Required

Indian government’s hunger for e-surveillance as well as the pressure from the industrial bodies for weak and ineffective cyber laws is costing Indians their privacy and data protection law. The truth is that privacy rights in India are at sale.

The e-surveillance projects include unique identification project of India (UID project) or Aadhar project of India. It is managed by Nandan Nilekani as the chairman of unique identification authority of India (UIDAI). Other projects include national intelligence grid (Natgrid), CCTNS, etc.

The ineffective and cyber criminal’s friendly laws include information technology act 2000. IT Act 2000 is the sole cyber law of India that has been made an instrumentality of e-surveillance by Indian government. Further, under pressure from industrial bodies, almost all the cyber crimes have been made bailable.

However, the gravest of all concerns is the high level of e-surveillance in India with no corresponding privacy laws, data protection laws and procedural safeguards. Even the IT Act 2000 is silent on the procedural safeguards against illegal and unconstitutional e-surveillance, internet censorship, etc.

In these circumstances, it is of paramount importance that suitable privacy laws and data protection laws must be enacted by Indian parliament as soon as possible.

Cyber Security In India Is Needed To Defeat E-Surveillance

As more and more public services are attached to information and communication (ICT) technology, their security becomes of paramount importance. In India there is very little research, training and education in the field of cyber security. Further, even lesser is research and training regarding techno legal issues.

So much so that India has just a single techno legal cyber security research, training and education centre (CSRCI). The same is managed by Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB) and it is providing research, training, education, policy making etc in the crucial field of cyber security in India.

It is also maintaining a world class cyber security software repository that is unique in the world. The repository carries both technical as well as legal resources and software.

India has been facing cyber threats from cyber criminals, cyber espionage groups, cyber war groups, cyber terrorists, etc. Even the homeland security of India needs rejuvenation. Indian departments and strategic computer systems have been under constant threats from adjacent countries. Many sensitive documents have also been stolen through hacking the crucial computer systems in India.

Even the cyber law of India is a very weak piece of legislation with no deterrent effect. When cyber crimes like hacking have been made bailable nothing can make such a law a deterrent for committed cyber criminals.

In the name of national security and cyber security, the Home Ministry is taking absurd decisions like banning Blackberry, Gmail, Skype, etc. Further, illegal and unconstitutional projects like CCTNS, Natgrid, Aadhar project, etc have been also pushed for the sole purpose of enhancing the illegal and unaccountable e-surveillance powers of Indian government and its agencies.

The truth is that authorities like unique identification authority of India (UIDAI) and projects like CCTNS, Natgrid, Aadhar, etc are violative of civil liberties and fundamental rights of Indians. The worst affected are the privacy rights in India that have simply been compromised for the façade of security. It is high time for Indians to reclaim their human rights before it is too late.

Legal Enablement Of Intelligence Agencies Of India Is required

Intelligence agencies and law enforcement machinery of India are working almost with no legal framework supporting their functioning. This is not only affecting the genuineness and credibility of such agencies and authorities but is also casting a great doubt about their impartiality.

For instance, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is under fire for the same reason and is considered to be a puppet in the hands of ruling government. This is bound to happen so long there is neither a legal framework nor accountability of the CBI to Parliament of India or to any statutory enactment. Why India abhors enactment of relevant and mandatory legislations is still a mystery to solve.

India is notoriously infamous for creating authorities and agencies without any legal sanction and framework. Surprisingly, a majority of them pertains to law enforcement and intelligence agencies like CBI, IB, RAW, etc.

Of course, we have illegal and unconstitutional projects like the unique identification project of India (UID Project of India) or Aadhar project of India and unconstitutional authorities like unique identification authority of India (UIDAI). Why Parliament of India is not conferring legitimacy and constitutionality upon these authorities is still not understandable.

Scrap Aadhar Project And Dissolve UIDAI

Privacy rights in India do not exist. Instead of strengthening the civil liberties and privacy rights in India, the Indian government has preferred to impose unconstitutional and civil liberty violative projects like National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) Project, Aadhar Project/UID Project, Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) Project, etc.

The worst civil liberty violative project is Aadhar project managed by Nandan Nilekani who is presently acting as the chairman of the unique identification authority of India (UIDAI). The biometric identification initiative has already attracted major opposition from almost all the segments of the society.

Indian government has openly and in an unambiguous manner declared that it does not care about civil liberties in general and privacy and data protection laws in particular. All its promises regarding privacy rights have proved to be just a façade to gain time and subsequently do nothing. The truth is that India is forcibly implementing “unconstitutional projects” like NATGRID Project, Aadhar Project/UID Project, Crime and CCTNS Project, etc.

Another truth is that under the garb of welfare schemes the Indian government is gaining illegal, unconstitutional and unreasonable e-surveillance, Internet censorship and other draconian powers. It is trying to get a complete control over information pertaining to Indians.

The government is not satisfied even with this and now they are planning to introduce the most stupid amendments in the IT laws or cyber law of India.

Although all the projects recently introduced by Indian government are illegal, unconstitutional and outrageous, one project requires special mention. This is the Aadhar project or UID project of India. The same is managed by Nandan Nilekani as the chairman of unique identification authority of India (UIDAI).

What is surprising is that Indian government is wasting crores of public money upon an authority (UIDAI) that does not exist in the eyes of law. This wastage of public money is not only violating many laws of India, including criminal laws, but also against the democratic and Parliamentary scheme of Indian Constitution.

The constitutional analysis of the National Identification Authority of India Bill 2010 produced by the UIDAI clearly shows that UIDAI is an illegal authority and aadhar project is an unconstitutional project.

The Indian government is still pushing hard this project under pressure of industrial lobbying and the only purpose of this project seems to be to serve private interests.

Time has come to scrap these unconstitutional projects till they are duly supported by constitutionally sound legislations.

SOURCE: CIO

Unethical And Illegal SEO Activities Regarding UIDAI Are Happening And Google Seems To Be Indifferent

It has come to our knowledge that controversial topics regarding projects like Natgrid, CCTNS, etc in general and Aadhar project in particular have been systematically filtered at the Google news search. Surprisingly, all the topics pertaining to unique identification authority of India (UIDAI) and carrying the term UIDAI are dumped deep into the Google news search engine irrespective of their relevance and quality.

Since Google is aware of this issue and this cannot happen without its consent, we can safely presume that Google is also involved in this process. We would post more details very soon.

The latest article on breach of public trust by Indian government has been dumped once again.

Also see this CIO article.

Human Rights In India At Stake

By
Ram K Kaushik

Civil liberties in India in general and privacy rights in particular are at stake. The government of India is doing its level best to invade human rights of Indians. It is formulating projects after projects without any regard to civil liberties of Indians. Whether it is Aadhar project of India or Natgrid Project of India the civil liberties of Indians are openly and blatantly violated.

Aadhar project of India is devoid of any legal framework that may back the spending of crores of money. There is no sense in continuing the project till there is a constitutionally sound law backing its operations. Till now the UIDAI is operating without any authority and there is no justifications for the amount spend under the project.

Similarly, Natgrid project was originally stalled due to protests from experts and lack of privacy safeguards. The Home ministry of India is trying to revive the same with great disregard to privacy rights and civil liberties. According to media reports, even the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) of India has unofficially cleared the project. After the protests from civil liberty experts the government of India has once again declared that it would clear the Natgrid project only after independent audit regarding proper safeguards for privacy rights of stakeholders.

It seems the government of India is not serious at all about privacy rights in India and it merely gives press statement the moment it faces a protest. Only time will tell how sincere it is regarding protecting privacy rights and civil liberties of Indians?

SOURCE: CIO

Indian Government Is Implementing Projects Without Laws

India prefers projects ignoring the human rights of Indians especially privacy rights in India.

India is looking forward for some very crucial and significant projects and history seems to be repeating. For instance, aadhar project of India, Natgrid project of India, etc are once again in limelight. The former intends to provide a unique identification number to every citizen whereas the latter empowers the law enforcement and intelligence agencies of India with informational inputs.

Needless to mention that database collected by a single authority like census authority of India or aadhar project can be used by Indian government for as many projects as it likes. Here comes the importance of a good data protection and privacy law of India. In the absence of procedural safeguards the data and information can be misused. The government of India is ignoring and avoiding this much needed exercise.

SOURCE: CIO

What Made Aadhar Project Of India Unconstitutional?

The Aadhar Project of India has once again tested the lack of data protection and privacy rights in India. Data protection and privacy laws must be enacted by India as soon as possible. India does not have any specific and dedicated data protection and privacy laws in India. On the contrary India is strongly committed to e-surveillance and other forms of privacy violation activities.

Human rights have to be actively protected in Indian cyberspace. Presently India is not paying any attention towards protecting civil liberties of Indians in cyberspace.

For instance, take the example of national intelligence grid (NATGRID) that was literally imposed upon Indian citizens. Thanks to the stiff resistance by experts, it has been temporarily stalled.

Similarly, the government of India is also imposing the aadhar project of India upon Indian citizens without any legislative backing and civil liberty safeguards. If aadhar project or UID project is allowed without civil liberty protection, it would be a civil liberty nightmare for Indians. The UIDAI must not proceed further and utilise hard earned public money till a statutory framework is in place.

The ultimate call is for the Parliament of India to take that is shying away from its responsibilities. On the contrary, it is making laws like information technology amendment act 2008 (sole cyber law of India) that empowers the Indian government to snoop and violate privacy of Indians without proper safeguards.

Aadhar is violating the civil liberties of Indians. For detail kindly see:

(a) Aadhar Watch Initiative Of India

(b) Aadhar Project is Unconstitutional

(c) Hit and trial projects in India

(d) UID Watch Initiative of India

(e) Strange things happen in India

(f) Human Rights Protection In India

(g) Natgrid And Privacy Violations

(h) Individuals Who Saved Aadhar Project Of India , etc.

These articles carry all the information that proves that aadhar project is violating the civil liberties of Indians.

SOURCE: MYNEWS

Law For UIDAI In Pipeline

At last the unique identification authority of India (UIDAI) managing the UID project of India decided to do the right thing. It has decided to propose a law that would regulate its functioning and incorporate provisions for the safeguard of privacy rights of the citizens whose database it is going to manage.

The step came after objections were raised by civil liberty activists in India. The first and most vibrant protest came from the Aadhar Watch Initiative of India. Opposing the Aadhar project of India in its present form the aadhar watch initiative specified the ground on which UIDAI in general and UID project/Aadhar project in particular are illegal and unconstitutional.

This is a welcome step and would strengthen Aadhar project of India in the long run. However, the task is not easy as India does not have any dedicated and exclusive data protection and privacy law. UIDAI would be performing a difficult task especially since it has a time of almost 20 days alone. Let us hope that UIDAI would be able to achieve what it has promised because in the absence of the same, no action of UIDAI can be held to be legal and constitutional.

SOURCE: CIO

Public Outrage Reformed The Aadhar Project

By

Ram K Kaushik

One of the aspects that irritate me a lot is the attitude of Indian government towards the civil liberties of Indian citizens. Why is it always that the government of India always wakes up when public spirited citizens vehemently oppose its repressive and unconstitutional acts or omissions?

Two of such recent projects that were based upon this mentality of Indian government are national intelligence grid (Natgrid) and aadhar project of India/UID project of India. Both of these projects were stalled after protests by public, especially by techno-legal experts like Praveen Dalal.

Firstly, it was Natgrid that was stalled after stiff protests. Now even the aadhar project is facing difficulties and it may not proceed further till a law supporting the same is enacted by Parliament of India. Fortunately, we have some heroes who have finally convinced the government of Indian to enact law regarding aadhar project of India.

However, the real question is why the government of India always needs a shock to wake up and why cannot it take help of people in advance whose suggestions and recommendations it subsequently accepts?

SOURCE: CIO

Heroes Who Saved Aadhar Project Of India

Aadhar project of India was never constitutional and legal. However, the government was confident that it would be successful in imposing the same upon Indian citizens. At this stage some public spirited individuals rose up to the occasion and forced the Indian government to reconsider its decision. Now as per the latest news, the government of India has agreed to enact a law for Aadhar project of India.

Let us see the heroes who saved Aadhar project of India from governmental arbitrariness and lawlessness.

The first and most obvious choice is the Aadhar Project Watch Initiative founded by Praveen Dalal, the leading techno-legal expert of India and a civil liberty expert of India. The suggestions and recommendations of Aadhar Project Watch Initiative of India have been finally accepted by the government of India. The government has finally agreed to enact a law to back UID Project of India or Aadhar Project of India. There was a growing dissatisfaction among the masses in India regarding the way Aadhar project has been implemented in India. Civil liberty experts like Praveen Dalal have been suggesting that aadhar project of India is illegal and unconstitutional in the absence of a legislative framework. According to Praveen Dalal, the UIDAI must not use public funds till provisions regarding the same are incorporated in the law to be formulated by Parliament of India.

It is good to see that government of India has once again accepted the suggestions that are pertinent for the successful implementation of aadhar project of India. It would be even better if techno-legal experts like Praveen Dalal are inducted into the process of law making so that both technical as well as legal aspects can be suitable incorporated into the proposed law.

Others have also raised their voices against the present form of aadhar project. For instance, V.K.Singh has given a very good account why aadhar project of India is unconstitutional. Gunjan Singh has explained that hit and trial attitude of India is the real cause of failure of these projects. Ram K Kaushik has outlined the importance of aadhar watch project of India in streamlining the efforts of UIDAI. He has also analysed the legal position when citizens of India can take recourse of private defense against the State if projects like Natgrid, Aadhar, etc are imposed upon them.

These people are the real heroes who have played a great role in strengthening the civil liberties of Indian citizens. Interestingly, aadhar is not the first project that has been opposed to by Indians. Previously, even Natgrid project was objected to and the government finally accepted the suggestions of Praveen Dalal in this regard. Let us hope that India will learn from these incidences before trying any new hit and trial project in India.

SOURCE: GROUND REPORT

Does Indian Ministers Mean What They Say?

India is an interesting place to live in. It has rich culture and nice people. But when it comes to its politicians one has no choice but to bang his head against the wall. No where in the world can we have greater double standards then the one adopted by Indian politicians. Take few examples in this regard.

Minister A. Raja has shown his willingness to amend the sole cyber law of India to make it strong. Surprisingly, the information technology act 2000 (IT Act 2000) was made impotent and cyber criminal friendly during his tenure only. He did nothing to stop the information technology amendment act 2008 (IT Act 2008) that not only made India a safe heaven for cyber criminals but also made Indian an official e-police state.

Minister P. Chidambaram has recently assured that they believe in protection of privacy of Indians at all costs. Somebody must remind him of the recent episode where the Natgrid was stalled due to lack of safeguards to protect privacy of India. On top of it is the recent telephone tapping episode that is neither the first one nor the last one.

Minister Sachin Pilot has recently assured that security agencies are looking into the matter of recent hacking reports of Indian computer systems by China. The fact remains that cyber security in India is an ignored world. The only cyber security centre that India has is managed by a private techno-legal firm Perry4Law.

Finally, the aadhar project of India has been portrayed as a great service to poor and Indian masses. However, the fallacies and shortcomings of aadhar project of India is nothing short of unconstitutionality and illegality. Thanks to the Aadhar Project Watch Initiative, the UIDAI has at least a chance to rectify the blunders it is committing.

The list is simply illustrative and it can go on and on. All I can say is that strange things do happen in India and public never take notice of the same.

SOURCE: CIO

The Irregularities Of Aadhar Project Of India

By
Ram K Kaushik

The UID project of India was started by the government of India with great disregard to the parliamentary democracy and constitution of India. Objecting to the same Praveen Dalal launched the Aadhar watch initiative of India that has been analysing the grey areas of aadhar project of India.

Although others have also joined in this fight of illegal functioning of aadhar project of India yet the aadhar watch initiative is different from those protests.

Firstly, it is not against the very concept of aadhar project of India. All it is doing is analysing the lacunas from which the aadhar project is suffering and is expecting that the government of India in general and UIDAI in particular would rectify the irregularities of the aadhar project before proceeding further.

Secondly, it is also the exclusive initiative of India that is analysing both micro and macro aspect of aadhar project in the most holistic manner. Surprisingly, Mr. Nandan Nilekani has still not though it fit to consider the serious ramifications mentioned at this initiative. He has not yet understood that the objections mentioned at the platform would arise in any case and may stall the aadhar project just like the Natgrid project.

It would be a good idea to consider the suggestions of Praveen Dalal for various techno-legal aspects of aadhar project. After all if the very foundation of aadhar project is based upon irregularities, it is bound to face difficulties in future. The starting point should be to remove various deficiencies and than proceed further, suggests Praveen Dalal.

SOURCE: CIO