UID Project And UIDAI Are Unconstitutional and Illegal

In an astonishing manner, the Indian government is wasting crores of hard earned public money upon projects that have no legal sanction.

The fact is that Aadhar project of India/UID project of India as well as unique identification authority of India (UIDAI) are unconstitutional and illegal project and authority respectively.

Even Praveen Dalal, the leading techno–legal expert of India, has clearly explained and proved that UIDAI is an unconstitutional body. The Nandan Nilekani led project must be immediately scrapped off.

Even projects like national intelligence grid (Natgrid), crime and criminal tracking networks and systems (CCTNS), etc are unconstitutional.

The cyber law of India has been modified to accommodate the nefarious activities of Indian government and its agencies and for projects like aadhar, Natgrid, CCTNS, etc. The information technology act 2000 (IT Act 2000) was amended with the main objective of strengthening Indian government’s e-surveillance and Internet censorship powers.

Time has come for the Indians to agitate this matter before it is too late.

SOURCE: CIO

UIDAI Is Avoiding And Escaping From The Unconstitutionality Aspects

By
Ram K Kaushik

The unique identification project of India (UID project), subsequently renamed as Aadhar project of India, is in controversies from the very beginning. Even the basis of establishment of unique identification authority of India (UIDAI) is in question as neither Aadhar project nor UDIAI are supported by any law. The truth is that Aadhar project and UIDAI are testing the limits of Indian Constitution.

Both Aadhar project and UIDAI are clearly in violation of Indian Constitution still the Indian government is spending hard earned public money as if it is in a charity mood. It is not understandable how Indian government can spend even a single rupee upon an unconstitutional project and illegal body.

Further, Aadhar project would also be clubbed with other e-surveillance projects like national intelligence grid (Natgrid), Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) Project of India (CCTNS Project), etc.

The cyber law of India has been made a façade to indulge in unconstitutional e-surveillance and Internet censorship exercises in India. The information technology act 2000 (IT Act 2000) was amended to achieve this objective.

Although the Natgrid project was stalled due to lack of procedural safeguards to protect privacy, Aadhar project is moving unregulated and without rationale basis.

It would be good idea if the Indian government initiates a public debate in this regard and then come up with suitable laws to cover the activities of aadhar project and UIDAI. Till such time, both Aadhar project and UIDAI must be temporarily suspended. Further, Nandan Nilekani must also do at least something to show his commitment and respect to civil liberties like right to privacy and right to data protection.

SOURCE: CIO

Co.Cc Is Blocking Domains Illegally

It seems the free domain provider Co.Cc is not providing free anything. It is trying to encash upon the goodwill and reputation of a domain registered at its platform. Once a domain is well known and reputed, it is blocking the same for extraneous considerations without any prior notice and explaining grounds for the same.

We were running a news and views site named Cjnews that was also part of Google’s news database. However, on 5th July 2010 it was blocked by Co.Cc without any cause and reason. On further investigation, we were informed by the help centre of co.cc that they think our site could become a phishing / spam / illegal site.

We persisted in our pursuit for the truth and subsequently we received a mail from them informing us that our contents were “inappropriate”. It seems co.cc is trying to hush up something more sinister. Either they are acting on the instance of governmental authorities (Indian or Korean) or they are trying to establish a dubious practice of arm twisting and then forcing free users pay otherwise.

It is high time for co.cc to explain their illegal and unreasonable actions.

SOURCE: MYNEWS

What Forced Co.Cc To Block Cjnews Domain Without Any Reason?

In the news piece we wrote at CIO we analysed how Co.Cc is trying to suppress the voice of people by unreasonably blocking the domain registered at its platform. As per the latest communication we received from them through an e-mail, they have changed their stand dramatically.

Previously the site Administrator informed us that they think our site could become a phishing / spam / illegal site. How that could happen was never communicated to us. Similarly, we never received either any warning or any intimation from them regarding this claims of Co.Cc.

Now the e-mail form Co.Cc tells us that our site was blocked due to “inappropriate contents”. It seems our site has suddenly ceased to be site “capable” of phishing, spam and illegal activity in “future”. Now our site is providing “inappropriate contents” in present.

Come on Co.Cc clear your head and give us the real reason for your illegal and unreasonable blocking of our site. The funny reasons that you are giving is only strengthening the suspicion of bad faith and mala fide intentions on your part. Similarly, this episode is all raising lot of doubts about your professional and legal commitments.

SOURCE: MYNEWS

Co.Cc Engaging In Unreasonable Domain Blocking

It seems raising your voice against people in power has negative effects? These range from Internet censorship to blocking of websites. As many of our readers are aware we have been maintaining a website named Cjnews that has been providing techno-legal news, views, opinions, articles, etc.

We chose a free domain name provided by Co.Cc in the hope that this company would stand by its reputation and commitment. However, to our surprise, on 5th July 2010 our site was suddenly off the web. We analysed and found that there was a server side error that prevented it from appearing.

Realising immediately that it may be a blocking of website, we contacted both our domain name provider and hosting company. Our web hosting provider was kind enough to explain that there is no problem from their side as all the configurations and settings are proper.

On further investigation we found that it is the Co.Cc that has blocked access to this website. We contacted them and after one day we got the reply that the domain has been suspended because Co.Cc thought it has some “possibilities” to become a phishing / spam / illegal site. For this reason they have blocked our domain and we cannot use it anymore. In addition we can also not change the settings for domain.

If this is the attitude of Co.Cc, we recommend that none should register a free domain with them. Firstly, they never intimated us about any objectionable contents and just simply blocked the domain. They have also not intimated how they think our site could become a phishing / spam / illegal site. The worst part is that they think it “could” be an illegal site without any reason or explanation. Too much for the cost of a free domain from a site named Co.Cc.

Our site is a part of Google news source and it frequently appears at Google news and many other places. This arbitrary, unreasonable and subjective decision of Co.Cc is simply unethical and unprofessional.

We request the Co.Cc to remove this unreasonable restriction upon our right to free speech and expression unless they do not believe in it and the very professional standards they portray.

For others, we wish to say that nothing like this can, and would, prevent us from raising our voices against evil acts or omissions of others, including governmental authorities and agencies.

SOURCE: CIO

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

Cyber Security Policy Of India

By
V.K.Singh

Cyber security in India has not received the attention of Indian policy makers. As a result India has witnessed many sophisticated cyber security attacks against its computer systems operating at crucial departments and places from time to time. Even the terrorists are using technology to further their nefarious objectives in India. The problem is that Indian government, like any other government, is not capable of tackling cyber security issues single handedly. It needs private sector support to achieve this task.

According to Praveen Dalal, Managing Partner of the exclusive techno-legal cyber security research and training centre of India (CSRTCI), cyber security in India needs an urgent rejuvenation. He informs that till now Indian government has not thought it fit to consider cyber security as a part of National Policy.

It is obvious that India is finding it difficult to gather necessary cyber security expertise and this is resulting in a weak cyber security. Fortunately, private initiatives like CSRTCI are bridging the much needed gap of cyber security in India. The centre is providing techno-legal solutions for areas like cyber law, cyber security, cyber forensics, cyber terrorism, cyber espionage, critical ICT infrastructure protection, cyber war, etc. It is also providing techno-legal solutions for Indian projects like CCTNS, Natgrid, NCTC, etc.

CSRTCI also maintains a “repository” of software and tools for areas like cyber security, cyber forensics, penetration testing, malware analysis, encryption, stegnography, etc. It also maintains a rich techno-legal literature, articles, databases, etc for ready reference.

However, the most important and crucial achievement of the CSRTCI is that it has an “Exclusive Techno-Legal Repository” of software and research literature. It also has expertise for “aggressive defence” and human rights protection in cyberspace. In short, it is a single place destination for the techno-legal cyber security and allied fields.

The government of India and private sector of India must concentrate upon cyber security as soon as possible. Further, there is an emergent need to make proper amendments in the otherwise impotent, weak and ineffective cyber law of India. The increasing cyber crimes in India is also attributable to the “welcoming law” of India incorporated in the information technology act 2000 that instead of deterring the cyber criminals is in fact encouraging them to indulge in cyber crimes.

India Should Have A Cyber Security Strategy Suggests CSRTCI

By
V.K.Singh

Cyber security in India has not received much attention of the policy makers of India. Similarly, cyber security research and training is also missing in India. Till now we have just one techno-legal cyber security research and training centre in India (CSRTCI). The same is managed by Perry4Law, the exclusive techno-legal firm of India.

India has not formulated any cyber security policy or strategy. The only cyber security policy and cyber security strategy of India has been provided by Mr. Praveen Dalal, CEO of Perry4Law and CSRTCI.

The CSRTCI has been managing the techno-legal aspects of cyber security for long. Some of the areas of its specialisation pertain to cyber law, cyber security, cyber forensics, cyber war, cyber terrorism, cyber espionage, corporate espionage, critical ICT infrastructure protection, CCTNS, Natgrid, NCTC, etc.

India should also work upon wireless security as presently most of the wireless connections are insecure in India. As per the research of CSRTCI, a majority of wireless users had either not used any security mechanisms or they were very weak and easily guessable.

Cyber security is a mental state of mind and not hardware or software. As a matter of fact, many world class cyber security software are open source and freely available. Similarly, many good penetration testing software are freely available.

India needs good cyber security policy and strategy and effective training to prevent cyber threats from damaging its institutions and economy.

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.

Government Of India Is Breaching Public Trust By Illegal Distribution Of Money

By
Shayam Prasad

It is now clear that the Aadhar project of India as well as UIDAI is illegal project/body and is unconstitutional in nature. If Aadhar project/UIDAI is an illegal constitution, by what authority it is working and spending hard earned public money is a mystery.

Even the government of India is aware about this fact but still it is offering all the support for the functioning and operation of Aadhar project/UIDAI. Instead of refusing to extend its support and monetary incentives, the government of India is encouraging illegal use of public money without any Parliamentary scrutiny.

This illegal distribution 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.

Indian government is a custodian of public resources and public money and if it distributes tax payers hard earned money upon a project/authority that does not exists in the eyes of law, then serious doubts are casted upon its intentions, fairness and objectives.

It seems the Indian government is committed to safeguard “private interests” as against national interest and industrial lobbying is playing its role in the same. There is no reason why Aadhar project and UIDAI should be continued in the absence of any legal framework supporting its establishment and existence.

Further, there is no sense in gathering crucial details and data of Indians if we do not have privacy laws and data protection laws in India.

Despite ferocious protests, the Indian government is adamant in pushing hard the illegal and unconstitutional projects like Aadhar, Natgrid, CCTNS, etc. For what reasons, only God can tell us?

Google Is Either A Victim Or Accomplice To Illegal SEO Activities In India

Ever since the cyber law of India has been amended through the information technology amendment act 2008 (IT Act 2000), Indian cyber law has become a draconian tool in the hands of Indian government and its agencies. Indian government is censoring and controlling information that it considers to be controversial.

The bigger question is whether Google is helping India in this illegal and unconstitutional exercise of Indian government or private persons or organisations working for the Indian government? The answer definitely seems to be yes though it is still not clear whether it is “intentional” or “without knowledge” of the Google? But with so many news items and Blog posts musing about this fact, it is difficult to believe that Google is not aware of this situation.

Another aspect that is presently operating in India is unethical and illegal search engine optimisation (SEO) activities. It seems a combination of censorship and evil search SEO is openly and fearlessly operating at Google’s platform in general and Google India in particular. Google is definitely aware of this phenomenon yet it has still not reacted in any manner. This is lessening the trust and respect of users in Google.

The latest in the series is a constitutional analysis by Praveen Dalal of the proposed National Identification Authority of India Bill 2010 (Bill) proposed by the unique identification authority of India (UIDAI). This exclusive analysis in India has discussed the positive and negative aspects of the Bill that is meant to provide legitimacy to the Aadhar project of India or UID project of India. However, from the very beginning it has been dumped so deep into Google news database that it could not find its genuine and appropriate place. This is due to the unethical SEO activities happening at Google India

The Nandan Nilekani led Aadhar project and UIDAI is unconstitutional as it is neither supported by any law nor it has any safeguards for protecting civil liberties of Indians. With suppressing the public inputs and suggestions, it is just proving the points raised therein.

SOURCE: CIO

Aadhar Project Of India Must Be Suspended And UIDAI Should Be Dissolved Till Proper Laws Are In Place

By
Pritesh N Munjal

Now it is settled that the aadhar project of India and UIDAI are not legally constituted authorities, they being illegal and unconstitutional bodies is well settled. None can now doubt that the all important Aadhar project is now managed for the benefits of private individuals without any public interest element for the benefit of Indians.

Further, the unconstitutional nature of aadhar project and UIDAI is also further aggravated with its proposed amalgamation with endemic e-surveillance projects like National Intelligence Grid (Natgrid), Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) Project Of India (CCTNS Project), etc that confers tremendous and unregulated powers in the hands of Indian government and its agencies.

Further, in the absence of any privacy law, data protection law and other similar laws, these powers become draconian. The cyber law of India, incorporated in the information technology act 2000, has already been made e-surveillance friendly and cyber crimes friendly.

In similar circumstances, the Natgrid project has been stalled after civil liberty experts objected to its continuance on similar grounds. In fact, demands for scrapping aadhar projects have been on rise.

Time has come to suspend the aadhar project of India and dissolve the UIDAI till proper laws are in place.

What Is Ailing The Aadhar Project Of India And UIDAI?

By
Ram K Kaushik

A constitutional analysis of the Bill proposed by the UIDAI Chairman Mr. Nandan Nilekani and analysed by Praveen Dalal has revealed that both the UIDAI and Aadhar project of India are still unconstitutional.

The Human Rights Centre of India has been keeping a close eye upon unconstitutional projects like Aadhar, Natgrid, CCTNS, etc and providing its valuable inputs and suggestions from time to time. This analysis is the latest of this series.

After much protest by civil liberties experts, the UIDAI was forced to propose the Bill that although very good for administrative purposes yet miserable for civil liberties purposes.

It is surprising that both Aadhar project of India and the UIDAI are operating without any law empowering them to act.

This is strange as the Indian government has deemed it fit to confer extreme powers in the hands of an authority that does not exists in the eyes of law.

Further, due the controversial nature of the work assigned to UIDAI, civil liberties violations are bound to arise in future.

UIDAI And Aadhar Project Of India Has Still To Cover A Long Way

By
Catherine Fernandes

A constitutional analysis of the Bill by Praveen Dalal claims that both the UIDAI and Aadhar project of India are still unconstitutional. Praveen Dalal is also the founder of the first Human Rights Centre of India.

According to the analysis, neither UIDAI nor Aadhar Project of India is legally supported by any law. Even the proposed Bill would also take some time before it can come to the rescue of UIDAI.

So much so that even if the proposed Bill becomes an effective and binding law today itself, it is far from being a law respecting the civil liberties of India.

Fundamental rights like right to privacy are at great stake due to the proposed Aadhar project. To aggravate the position, the aadhar project would combine its database with national census, Natgrid, CCTNS, etc.

This would not only violate the civil liberties of Indians but would also make India an e-police State and endemic e-surveillance society.

The Bill is, however, a good administrative scheme as per the analysis and it enhances the transparency, accountability and fairness for the dealings of UIDAI.

The Proposed Bill By UIDAI And Aadhar Project Would Not Protect Civil Liberties

By
Gunjan Singh

A constitutional analysis of the proposed National Identification Authority of India Bill 2010 (Bill) by Praveen Dalal claims that both the UIDAI and Aadhar project of India are far from being constitutional.

The proposed Bill fails to provide safeguards regarding violation of civil liberties of Indians and it incorporated many verbatim provisions of cyber law of India, i.e. information technology act 2000.

The main objective of the Bill is to streamline the administrative aspects of Aadhar project and UIDAI. Till now both Aadhar project and UIDAI are not supported by any legal framework.

In fact, the Bill would take many months/years to become final and enforceable law. Till the Bill becomes an enforceable law, no legal sanction can be attributed to it.

In short, as on the date of writing of this article and many subsequent months, both UIDAI and Aadhar project of India would be spending hard earned public money without any statutory right to do so.

Needless to mention is that this expenditure would be primarily incurred for the purpose of violating civil liberties of Indians. It seems to be “double jeopardy” to me.

Mr. Nandan Nilekani Your Aadhar Project And UIDAI Is Still Unconstitutional

By
Kunal Koel

A constitutional analysis of the proposed National Identification Authority of India Bill 2010 (Bill) by Praveen Dalal has revealed that both the UIDAI and Aadhar project are still “unconstitutional”.

The analysis has claimed that the Bill is still not a valid piece of legislation till it is approved by both the Houses of the Parliament, receives President’s assent and then finally notified in Official Gazette by the Government of India.

The analysis also reveals that the Bill never intended to provide adequate safeguards for protection of civil liberties in India.

The analysis came as a part and parcel of the project managed by him and known as Human Rights Protection in Cyberspace (HRPIC). This is the exclusive Human Rights Centre in India that is analysing various issues, including matters pertaining to UIDAI and Aadhar project.

The analysis also claims that the proposed Bill also has many positive features that if supplemented with good privacy and data protection law may go a long way in clearing legal hurdles for the UIDAI.

The Proposed Bill By UIDAI And Nandan Nilekani Are Still Unconstitutional Says Praveen Dalal

The National Identification Authority of India Bill 2010 (Bill) has been recently proposed by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). The Bill, if made a law, would be called National Identification Authority of India Act, 2010 (Act). Here are some of the salient features of the Bill:

(1) The Bill is still not a valid piece of legislation till it is approved by both the Houses of the Parliament, receives President’s assent and then finally notified in Official Gazette by the Government of India.

(2) The Bill is not a comprehensive one and neither has it intended to cover all the aspects of Aadhar project of India. The Bill’s main objective is to provide legitimacy to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) renamed as the National Identification Authority of India (NIDAI) and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

(3) The Bill has picked up many provisions of the Information Technology Act 2000 (IT Act 2000) for various issues. One of them also pertains to the extra territorial application of the Bill.

(4) The Bill is a good piece of work as far as administrative aspects of Aadhar project is concerned. However, it has almost nothing to offer regarding protecting civil liberties of Indians. Privacy issues, data protection issues, etc are missing from the Bill.

(5) By making the IT Act 2000 a base for many of its provisions, the Bill has incorporated the weaknesses and lacunas of the same. It seems the members drafting the Bill did not take pain to do some good research and formulate new and better provisions.

(6) The Bill’s greatest strength is its Public Private Partnership (PPP) Model through which it is seeking the expertise and assistance of various individuals, institutions, etc. The Bill is also great to the extent it catering the requirements of Research and Development regarding some of the most crucial aspects of contemporary times.

(7) The Bill has its own list of Offences and Penalties. The list though not adequate but if supported by different and supplementary legislations would strengthen the Bill. These provisions have been inspired by the IT Act 2000 with all its limitations and demerits.

(8) Provision regarding delegation of authority of the NIDAI is also incorporated to bring flexibility among the functioning of the authority. The only fact that has to be kept in mind is that this delegation must not be abused for private gains of private players.

(9) The provisions of this Act shall be in addition to, and not in derogation of, any other law for the time being in force. Thus, other law would supplement the provisions of this Bill and make it more effective.

In short, this is a great enabling legislation for the UIDAI/NIDAI and its administrative functions. It has taken care of most of the aspects that would allow the authority to perform its functions effectively, transparently and with accountability. Proper care has been taken to use PPP Model as well as to use the expertise of others.

On the negative side, the Act does not cater the civil liberties requirement that is also the toughest challenge before it and the first and foremost challenge for its authority. This may be due to the fact that the Act never intends to cater the civil liberties requirements and has left it for the Indian government through a separate legislation.

The NIDAI would face the challenge of “Unconstitutionality” on two counts. Firstly, the authority must be constituted by a proper law. This requirement would be fulfilled if the Bill is made an enforceable law. The second is that it must not violate the Civil Liberties of Indians. This is a tricky issues and the same has also been avoided by the present Bill. The Indian government has promised to enact laws regarding privacy and data protection very soon.

If the Bill and those laws are combined, they may take care of the constitutionality attacks and the NIDAI may proceed further for its tasks. But for the time being, both Aadhar Project and UIDAI/NIDAI are “Unconstitutional” Project and Authority.

SOURCE: HRPIC BLOG

Is Indian Government Serious About Privacy And Data Protection Laws Of India?

By
Shayam Prasad

If any thing that Indian government is very good at delivering is, it pertains to making false promises and empty claims. The latest in this series is its promise to formulate suitable privacy and data protection law(s) in India.

Firstly, in April 2009 the department of information technology (DIT) and Cert-In declared that they would set up an IT regulatory body, which will monitor the security and privacy aspects of IT and BPO companies.

Then in May 2010 the chairman of UIDAI and Aadhar project Nandan Nilekani declared that he would come up with data protection and privacy law of India within a month.

Now almost at the end of June 2010 the Indian government has constituted a Group of Officers under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training to develop a framework that could balance the country’s interests and concerns on privacy, data protection and security and which could respect the domain legislations on the subject. The Group is supposed to submit its report within three months i.e. till September 2010. On the basis of that report the government may take some action.

The truth is that Indian government is using the data protection and privacy laws issue as a faced to push its illegal and unconstitutional projects like Aadhar/UID, Natgrid, CCTNS, etc.

If the Indian government is so sure and committed about bringing a suitable privacy law or data protection law, it can stop these controversial projects till the time these laws are formulated. But the government would not do so because it cannot afford to postpone project on the basis of an assurance that it never intends to fulfill.

Indian government is just gaining time and trying to mislead the civil liberties activists who are demanding for a privacy law for these unconstitutional projects.

Technical Glitch With Google Search Engine Results

Dear readers of our Blogs Cyber Laws In India and Techno Legal News And Views Form India (TLNAV). We are having some issues with the Blog search results and web search results of Google India.

As a measure of precaution and to defeat any possible rouge editor or sub editor in India or elsewhere from manipulating Google India’s results, we are forced to post our articles, news, views, etc at multiple platforms. This process will also defeat any unethical and illegal search engine otimisation (SEO) that may have adverse impact upon search engine results.

Although we strictly discourage cross postings and multiple postings, they may continue for the time being till things do take the right shape.

We regret any inconvenience to any person, institution, reader, Google, etc. Kindly bear with us, if possible.

Crime And Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) Project Of India

Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) Project of India (CCTNS Project) is one of the most important projects of India. It has the potentials to bring the much needed and great police reforms in India. At the same time it can magnificently increase the police powers and their capabilities. As the power increases, so must be the accountability, transparency and responsibility. It is at this point that CCTNS Project of India fails drastically.

Although CCTNS project is a very ambitious project of Indian government yet it is not supported by any legal framework that can provide safeguard against its misuses. On the one hand we have CCTNS that is the most comprehensive modernisation and reformative initiative of government of India to streamline law enforcement in India till date. On the other hand the project is in its initial stage and it may face both technical as well as legal challenges and civil liberties issues.

The truth is that the present projects like Aadhar/UID, National Intelligence Grid (Natgrid), CCTNS, etc are simply unconstitutional in the absence of good and effective privacy laws, data protection laws and many such similar laws. However, the government of India is pushing these projects very hard due to industrial lobbying and to provide unlawful and illegal gain to some companies. Now the question arises what is CCTNS project and from where it is deriving its authority?

CCTNS is a plan scheme conceived in the light of experience of a non-plan scheme namely - Common Integrated Police Application (CIPA). CCTNS is a Mission Mode Project under the National e-Governance Pan of Govt of India. CCTNS aims at creating a comprehensive and integrated system for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of policing through adopting of principle of e-Governance and creation of a nationwide networking infrastructure for evolution of IT-enabled-state-of-the-art tracking system around 'Investigation of crime and detection of criminals'.

The objectives of the Scheme can broadly be listed as follows:

1. Make the Police functioning citizen friendly and more transparent by automating the functioning of Police Stations.

2. Improve delivery of citizen-centric services through effective usage of ICT.

3. Provide the Investigating Officers of the Civil Police with tools, technology and information to facilitate investigation of crime and detection of criminals.

4. Improve Police functioning in various other areas such as Law and Order, Traffic Management etc.

5. Facilitate Interaction and sharing of Information among Police Stations, Districts, State/UT headquarters and other Police Agencies.

6. Assist senior Police Officers in better management of Police Force.

7. Keep track of the progress of Cases, including in Courts.

8. Reduce manual and redundant Records keeping.

Under the CCTNS Project, approx. 14,000 Police Stations throughout the country has been proposed to be automated.

The modernisation of police force in India cannot be successfully achieved till India acquires a techno-legal expertise. However, at least a good beginning has been made by Indian government and it would go a long way in modernisation of law enforcement in India. The government must, however, enact a suitable legal framework that can protect civil liberties of Indians from excessive police acts.

SOURCE: MYNEWS

The Search Debacle Of Google India

Some of our news and search results at Google have been systematically removed from the news search and Google search. Through this post we are trying to analyse what may be the reason for the same. The latest to face censorship at the hands of Google is our article regarding civil liberty violations by Indian government through projects like Aadhar/UID Project, Natgrid, CCTNS, etc. These projects are not supported by any law and they are also violative of right to privacy and other constitutional rights of Indians.

Meanwhile, another Blog entry of one of our authors disappeared in similar fashion from Google search engine. We presumed that the controversial nature of the entry forced Google India to do that. This does not discourage us and we reposted the entry again here. Now this entry appeared in Google search engine but once again disappeared. Is Google trying to suppress this issue by brute force and without clarification.

At times you may feel frustrated by the fact that your article or news appearing at the Google news database or search engine disappears without any reason. You may consider it as a technical glitch or attribute the same as some mistake at your part that forced the Google to remove the contents.

But what if this becomes a routine activity that also regarding only those news or search results that are deemed to be controversial by the government?

Obviously, this is a deliberate and systematic act on the part of the search engine and government of a nation where that search/news database is operating.

Many of our articles and news are systematically removed from time to time by Google India. Initially we thought it to be a technical glitch. However, when the frequency of this exercise increased and many of our news and articles disappeared without any reason or cause, we were forced to write up this piece of our apprehension. It may be right or it may be wrong, you decide the same and enlighten us.

The government of India gained draconian, unconstitutional and illegal e-surveillance, Internet censorship, website blocking and many such Orwellian powers through the information technology amendment act, 2008 (IT Act 2008). The IT Act 2008 amended the sole cyber law of India i.e. information technology act 2000 (IT Act 2000) and conferred unregulated and unreasonable e-surveillance and censorship powers upon Indian government and its agencies. Till now the Indian government has not prescribed procedural safeguards and guidelines subject to which these Orwellian powers can be exercised. As a result the government is using these powers without any accountability and transparency.

Obviously, all tech companies and search engines must also comply with the official as well as unofficial, legal as well as illegal demands of Indian government and its agencies. It seems Google India is doing just the same.

Now since the words and deeds are out an explanation from Google India in this regard would be appreciated. We may be wrong in our analysis but then we cannot be wrong on all the occasions.

We would also keep on posting about any such incidence in future when we face similar problem from any tech company or search engine.

UPDATE: Thanks to CIO platform and other people and supporters, some of the search results in Google Blog and Google Search have reappeared.

SOURCE: CIO

Identity Thefts Are Increasing In India

By
Gunjan Singh

Identity thefts are on rise in India. This is due to the lax cyber law of India. Indian cyber law is incorporated in information technology act 2000 (IT Act 2000). IT Act 2000 was amended by the information technology amendment act 2008 (IT Act 2008) and it made the cyber law of India a very weak law. So much so that the present cyber law of India has made India a safe heaven for cyber criminals and all sorts of cyber crimes are being committed in India.

To aggravate the situation, Indian police is not aware of cyber law and cyber crimes. Even the officers at the Cyber Crime Investigation Cells like Mumbai are clueless regarding cyber crimes. Even their boastful claims regarding cyber forensics capabilities are false and groundless.

We would cover more identity thefts issues I general and cyber crimes in India in particular in our subsequent posts. It would be better if the government of India makes suitable amendments in the cyber crime friendly legislation of India.

Exclusive Techno-Legal Cyber Security Research And Training Centre Of India (CSRTCI)

By
V K Singh

Cyber security in India has not received the attention of Indian policy makers. As a result India has witnessed many sophisticated cyber security attacks against its computer systems operating at crucial departments and places from time to time. Even the terrorists are using technology to further their nefarious objectives in India. The problem is that Indian government, like any other government, is not capable of tackling cyber security issues single handedly. It needs private sector support to achieve this task.

According to Praveen Dalal, Managing Partner of the exclusive techno-legal cyber security research and training centre of India (CSRTCI), cyber security in India needs an urgent rejuvenation. He informs that till now Indian government has not thought it fit to consider cyber security as a part of National Policy.

It is obvious that India is finding it difficult to gather necessary cyber security expertise and this is resulting in a weak cyber security. Fortunately, private initiatives like CSRTCI are bridging the much needed gap of cyber security in India. The centre is providing techno-legal solutions for areas like cyber law, cyber security, cyber forensics, cyber terrorism, cyber espionage, critical ICT infrastructure protection, cyber war, etc. It is also providing techno-legal solutions for Indian projects like CCTNS, Natgrid, NCTC, etc.

CSRTCI also maintains a “repository” of software and tools for areas like cyber security, cyber forensics, penetration testing, malware analysis, encryption, stegnography, etc. It also maintains a rich techno-legal literature, articles, databases, etc for ready reference.

However, the most important and crucial achievement of the CSRTCI is that it has an “Exclusive Techno-Legal Repository” of software and research literature. It also has expertise for “aggressive defence” and human rights protection in cyberspace. In short, it is a single place destination for the techno-legal cyber security and allied fields.

The government of India and private sector of India must concentrate upon cyber security as soon as possible. Further, there is an emergent need to make proper amendments in the otherwise impotent, weak and ineffective cyber law of India. The increasing cyber crimes in India is also attributable to the “welcoming law” of India incorporated in the information technology act 2000 that instead of deterring the cyber criminals is in fact encouraging them to indulge in cyber crimes.

CCTNS Project Of India Needs Techno-Legal Expertise

Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) Project Of India (CCTNS Project) is a very ambitious project of Indian government. It is the most comprehensive modernisation and reformative initiative of government of India to streamline law enforcement in India till date. The project is in its initial stage and it may face both technical as well as legal challenges and civil liberties issues.

CCTNS is a plan scheme conceived in the light of experience of a non-plan scheme namely - Common Integrated Police Application (CIPA). CCTNS is a Mission Mode Project under the National e-Governance Pan of Govt of India. CCTNS aims at creating a comprehensive and integrated system for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of policing through adopting of principle of e-Governance and creation of a nationwide networking infrastructure for evolution of IT-enabled-state-of-the-art tracking system around 'Investigation of crime and detection of criminals'.

The objectives of the Scheme can broadly be listed as follows:

1. Make the Police functioning citizen friendly and more transparent by automating the functioning of Police Stations.

2. Improve delivery of citizen-centric services through effective usage of ICT.

3. Provide the Investigating Officers of the Civil Police with tools, technology and information to facilitate investigation of crime and detection of criminals.

4. Improve Police functioning in various other areas such as Law and Order, Traffic Management etc.

5. Facilitate Interaction and sharing of Information among Police Stations, Districts, State/UT headquarters and other Police Agencies.

6. Assist senior Police Officers in better management of Police Force.

7. Keep track of the progress of Cases, including in Courts

8. Reduce manual and redundant Records keeping

Under the CCTNS Project, approx. 14,000 Police Stations throughout the country has been proposed to be automated.

The modernisation of police force in India cannot be successfully achieved till India acquires a techno-legal expertise. However, at least a good beginning has been made by Indian government and it would go a long way in modernisation of law enforcement in India. The government must, however, enact a suitable legal framework that can protect civil liberties of Indians from excessive police acts.

SOURCE: PTLB BLOG

India Is Engaging In Citizen Profiling And E-Surveillance Activities

By
Ram K Kaushik

India has been pushing “unconstitutional projects” in the name of welfare schemes and national interest. Projects like Aadhar/UID project, Natgrid, CCTNS, etc are simply illegal and unconstitutional. Even the Natgrid project has been stalled due to lack of procedural safeguards and adequate privacy protection. Similarly, Aadhar project and UIDAI are both not governed by any law at all.

Indian government is imposing unconstitutional project upon Indians with blatant violation of their civil liberties. This was the main reason for the launch of Human Rights Centre of India so that it can protect civil liberties of Indians in cyberspace. The Centre started keeping a close eye upon the unconstitutional projects like Aadhar, Natgrid, CCTNS, etc. Simultaneously, a separate initiative titled “Aadhar Watch Initiative” was also launched to analyse the constitutionality of the aadhar project.

The real reasons for the launch of projects like Aadhar are to enhance e-surveillance capabilities of India that also without any procedural safeguards. At the same time to provide unregulated and unreasonable e-surveillance, Internet censorship and website blocking powers upon itself and its agencies, Indian government amended the sole cyber law of India i.e. information technology act 2000 (IT Act 2000) through the information technology amendment act 2008 (IT Act 2008).

However, Indian government and its agencies cannot achieve these unconstitutional tasks without having a complete control over information, both online and offline. For online information, it is forcing tech companies like Google to screen online contents. Some of my colleagues have constantly maintained that many of their news reports have been systematically deleted by Google India. Although we considered it to be a technical glitch yet now we are sure that they were neither accidental nor technical glitch. We would provide a techno-legal analysis of this censorship by any concerned person or company very soon.

As far as offline information is concerned, project like Aadhar, Natgrid, National Census, etc would provide complete database of Indian citizens and those residing in India. This is the real reason why projects like Aadhar have been imposed even despite stiff resistance from civil liberty activists. Even Nandan Nilekani has adopted the method of bureaucratisation by promising for a privacy and data protection law for Aadhar project and UIDAI but delivering nothing but loud and empty words.

Meanwhile, the Indian government “once again” announced that it would enact data protection and privacy law for India. It seems the government of India has finally accepted the suggestions of Praveen Dalal in this regard, at least in letter if not spirit.

It is surprising that Indians are so gullible that they do not understand the purpose of these unconstitutional projects. With a complete control over the information of Indian citizens, their lives would be a real hell as we are not governed by a good government and intelligent bureaucracy. Choice is yours: protest or face the consequences.