E-Surveillance At The Cost Of Human Rights

India is presently going through a storm of quandary and unpredictability. In order to streamline and strengthen its internal security, India is taking haste decisions that would ultimately prove wastage of public money and violation of their valuable civil liberties, says Praveen Dalal. Experts have been questioning the inadequacy of safeguards for prevention of abuses and violation of civil liberties by projects like unique identification (UID), national intelligence grid (NATGRID), etc. The project executors, however, did no pay much heed to the same. The results were not difficult to anticipate. The Natgrid project has been stalled due to inadequate privacy safeguards and possibility of political misuse after experts like Praveen Dalal suggested inclusion of the same.

The National Population Register has been launched countrywide, after an initial foray in the coastal belt. This is not data collection in a vacuum. It is set amidst NATGRID (National Intelligence Grid), the UID (the Unique Identification project), and a still-hazy-but-waiting-in-the-wings DNA Bank. Each of these has been given spurs by the Union Home Ministry, with security as the logic for surveillance and tracking by the state and its agencies. The benign promise of targeted welfare services is held out to legitimise this exercise.

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.

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Haste Is Spoiling Projects Like Natgrid

India is presently going through a storm of quandary and unpredictability. In order to streamline and strengthen its internal security, India is taking haste decisions that would ultimately prove wastage of public money and violation of their valuable civil liberties, says Praveen Dalal.

India has been at unrest due to internal security breaches in the form of terrorist attacks and other similar activities. India responded quickly, though wrongly, by planning an endemic e-surveillance model for strengthening its internal security. However, the real beginning of e-police State in India started only after the Information Technology Amendment Act 2008 (IT Act 2008) was notified by the central government. It is really surprising that instead of strengthening and improving the sole cyber law of India, i.e. Information Technology Act 2000 (IT Act 2000) the Indian government preferred to make it further weaker and making it an instrumentality of e-surveillance in India.

The problem is more severe as issues pertaining to data protection law in India, privacy rights protection in India, etc would arise in the very near future. We need to protect human rights in cyberspace as well as in real world while implementing various governmental projects.

Experts have been questioning the inadequacy of safeguards for prevention of abuses and violation of civil liberties by projects like unique identification (UID), national intelligence grid (NATGRID), etc.

The project executors, however, did no pay much heed to the same. The results were not difficult to anticipate. The Natgrid project has been stalled due to inadequate privacy safeguards and possibility of political misuse after experts like Praveen Dalal suggested inclusion of the same. According to him India must understand thoroughly that “Haste is a Waste” for UIDAI, NATGRID, CCTNS, and other similar important projects. The truth is that projects like UID, Natgrid, etc must comply with civil liberties protection in cyberspace and real world., says Praveen Dalal.

The sooner this fact is realised by Indian government the better it would be for all concerned, especially for the Indian citizens whose civil liberties are at great peril.

SOURCE: GROUND REPORT

Is The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Legally Constituted?

India seems to be following the hit and trial method for some of the most crucial projects in India. The end result is obvious, i.e. wastage of crores of public money and violation of civil liberties of the Indian citizens. In this “guest column”, Mr. Praveen Dalal , Managing Partner of Perry4Law has shared his valuable insights in this regard.

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. What India is actually doing is using administrative circulars and executive orders to give legitimacy to these institutions. Why these circulars and orders have still not been declared “unconstitutional” by Indian judiciary is still a bigger mystery?

The latest in the league is the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIAI) managing the proposed Unique Identification Cards for Indian citizens. Where is that authority, what are its rules and regulations, what legal framework is supporting it, what are the legal and technical safeguards available for the possible misuse of the same, etc are some of the questions that would always vex the Indians.

It seems India has developed a habit of constituting “multiple agencies” without and legal framework and sanctions. This would result in more troubles than solutions. None can dispute that the unique identification number's database is too precious to be handled so casually.

On the front of security and safety of unique identification number's database, even Nandan Nilekani has accepted these concerns to be “legitimate one”. For instance, it would be a big task to secure such database from possible hacking and free from any misuse.

Invasion of Privacy of Indian citizens by Indian Government and its Agencies is certainly going to be there in future. This is more so when the Indian Government has openly declared its Policy to adopt endemic surveillance and e-surveillance over Indian citizens. The Indian Government would spend 800 Crores hard earned public money for tapping all phones in real time. Ironically, Indian citizens’ money would be used against Indian only and that also in an illegal and unconstitutional manner.

With the “Judicial Silence Strategy” adopted by the Delhi High Court and Supreme Court of India, the fate of the already scarce Privacy and Data Protection Rights in India is going to face extermination. It would be a good idea to call for explanation form Indian Government and stressing upon establishment of proper safeguards before departing with any sensitive information to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIAI).

Mr. Praveen Dalal, Managing Partner of Perry4Law, is the Leading Techno-Legal Specialist of India and is an Internationally renowned Expert in the fields of Cyber Forensics, Cyber Security, Cyber Law, etc. These are his personal views and opinion.

AUTHOR: PRAVEEN DALAL

SOURCE: MERINEWS