[Reader-list] Fingerprints, databases and mobile phones

[Jeebesh]

dear All,

Two news items that could be given some thought.

“If any agency wants to confirm the identify of a person, it would  
have to just take the fingerprint of the person on a cell phone and  
send it across to a central database and receive authentication within  
seconds.”.

http://www.hindu.com/2009/09/27/stories/2009092755850900.htm


" If all goes according to plan, then starting next month, your bank  
and insurance accounts, your travel details and even telephone and  
Internet usage will all be available to a bunch of high-level  
officials in the top-most government security enforcement agencies."

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/soon-11-central-agencies-can-monitor-your-bank-account-travel-and-tax-details/522026/


Read more below.

Happy Dushehra.

Jeebesh

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http://www.hindu.com/2009/09/27/stories/2009092755850900.htm

NEW DELHI: The recently constituted Unique Identification Authority of  
India (UIDAI) headed by Nandan Nilekani, former co-Chairman of the IT  
major Infosys, would aim at devising a system through which the  
identity of a person could be established through just a call from a  
mobile phone.

Explaining the project at a lecture here, Mr. Nilekani said that since  
its objective was to help the poor in particular to access the  
benefits of various government schemes with greater ease, the aim was  
to develop a system whereby the identity of a person could be  
established through just a call from a mobile phone.

“If any agency wants to confirm the identify of a person, it would  
have to just take the fingerprint of the person on a cell phone and  
send it across to a central database and receive authentication within  
seconds.”

Instead of a card, the UIDA would only provide a number to every  
citizen linked to a person’s demographic and biometric information. At  
the time of the issue of the number, the Authority would seek certain  
basic information such as the name, date of birth, place of birth,  
gender, and the address of the individuals and take their photograph  
and fingerprints.

The database would be developed in partnership with the government and  
private agencies, such as mobile service providers, cooking gas  
outlets, passport offices, NREGA and PDS authorities. “The moment a  
person comes in contact with any of the partner agencies, their  
details would be collected and the unique identification number would  
be issued. Once a person gets the number, he or she would have to just  
quote it on approaching another service provider.”

The aim of the project was to be provide a robust system to eliminate  
duplicate and fake identities, apart from verification and  
authentication of the identity in an easy manner, Mr. Nilekani said.  
The system would be developed in such a way that whenever a partner  
agency sends the data of an individual for registration, the central  
database would perform a search on key demographic and biometric  
attributes so that there was no duplication.

Noting that the present situation of multiple databases gave  
individuals “an incentive” to provide different personal information  
to different agencies, he said that since the mechanism for de- 
duplication in the UID system would ensure that the residents would  
have only one chance to be in the database, the individuals would  
provide accurate data. “The incentives for giving correct information  
would become especially powerful as benefits and entitlements would be  
linked to UID.”

Giving the lecture at the 67th foundation day celebrations of the  
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Mr. Nilekani said the  
UIDAI planned to start issuing the identification numbers in 12 to 18  
months and cover 600 million citizens over the next four years.

While the largest such database currently available anywhere in the  
world covered only 120 million people, the one being set up in India  
would cover 10 times more than that figure, he said. “It is certainly  
a gigantic task with several technological challenges. But, we will do  
it.”

------------------------

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/soon-11-central-agencies-can-monitor-your-bank-account-travel-and-tax-details/522026/


Maybe this is the price you are required to pay to keep yourself and  
the country secure from terrorists. If all goes according to plan,  
then starting next month, your bank and insurance accounts, your  
travel details and even telephone and Internet usage will all be  
available to a bunch of high-level officials in the top-most  
government security enforcement agencies.

The National Intelligence Grid, which the government intends to  
establish by the end of this month, will ensure that designated  
officers in 11 Central security and intelligence agencies—such as the  
Intelligence Bureau, National Investigating Agency and the Directorate  
of Revenue Intelligence—would have complete access to nearly 20  
databases held by public authorities, including nationalised banks and  
insurance companies, railways and airlines, immigration and income tax  
department.

The idea is to let the law enforcement agencies get quicker and  
comprehensive access to all information related to suspected criminals  
and terrorists at one place over a highly secure network.  
Investigating officers often lose crucial time trying to get  
information from other departments, thereby benefiting the criminals.

The NATGRID, it is hoped, would not just speed up investigation of  
cases but also help in pre-empting crimes by acting on suspicious  
activities of people under watch. For purposes of easy use, each of  
the 20-odd databases would remain separate entities and would not be  
merged into a single master database.

Eventually, the intention is to bring relevant databases held even in  
private hands, like banks or transport companies, under the ambit of  
NATGRID. The main data centre for NATGRID would be located in the  
Multi-Agency Centre which has been reactivated after the Mumbai  
attacks last year

Sources in the government played down concerns on privacy, saying  
security agencies could even otherwise access these databases for  
investigation purposes. “All that is sought to be done is ensure that  
relevant information is accessed and acted upon timely in the  
interests of national security,” a source said.

Additionally, they pointed out that similar measures have been taken  
in other countries as well, especially in the United States following  
9/11.

“It would not have been done if it wasn’t considered to be completely  
necessary. A system of checks and balances would obviously be put in  
place so that information is not misused in any way,” the source said.

The complete NATGRID network would be delivered in three phases over  
the next two years. The first phase is ready to be initiated and is  
awaiting the final approval of Home Minister P Chidambaram, government  
sources said.