Many questions for Aadhaar critics. Some replies to the Aadhaar mafia.

While people question govts in a democracy, in India the govt questions anyone questioning unaccountable govt actions. And supporters think that while India was a democracy under UPA, under Modi it has become some kind of Hindu Empire and questioning the king means “off with their heads” sort of thing. For some reason, Ritesh Dwivedy confused private individuals, not elected to public positions nor employed by public funds, as those accountable to him for their personal views and actions. And then sulked and asked again when no one thought him important enough to consider seriously. Entertaining as it is, he clearly seems to be disoriented as to who his rights as a citizen entitle him to answers from, so trying to help him find his way in the muddle this alleged democracy is becoming.

Clarifying some problems he appears to be facing. All quotes from one or the other article linked above unless explicitly mentioned.

Aadhaar is a unique indigenous innovation that empowers every Indian by providing them with a secure and verifiable identity.

This statement is completely unsubstantiated and likely at the root of all the confusion. He has been informed a lot of glorious things about Aadhaar. They are not necessarily true. Verification is an important skill in today’s times when the government routinely lies to people in order to get them to believe, like Ritesh Dwivedy, whatever they wish people to believe.

Aadhaar is going to be the backbone of India becoming a developed country, and is receiving global acclaim from entities like Bill Gates, The Economist, the World Bank, Raoul Pal, and others.

These guys? Why wouldn’t foreign power cartels appreciate the tool that hands them power over India on a platter? Big data is big power and leaky big data is big control without accountability for opportunists. Who needs terrorists when you have hackers and crucial data of the entire country is in a form the government has little ability to secure? Is this government supposed to serve their interests or those of citizens? Of course the other two pillars of this servitude by this government are demonetisation and promotion of cashless transactions in a country they forgot to get fully on the internet first. That is how dumb this government is. If such a database were empowerment, why is it being forced on third world countries?

One whiff of WannaCry and RBI has all ATMs shut down. On the other hand, it is the country with all these people praising us (without US doing it themselves) created the ransomware originally. To get a better perspective, they have actually done an attack on a nuclear facility in Iran with Stuxnet. Our idea of security is “don’t enter random numbers for Aadhaar or we will consider it hacking” – a freaking bank did a replay attack on the Aadhaar database while “testing” their setup and neither are replay attacks prevented after that, nor the known “violators” refused access to Aadhaar – we are fucking out of our league on competence. It is like praising a 5 year old for writing all his secrets in his “private” diary in its hiding place behind the park bench. Except the 5 year old is writing down the security codes for getting into their home. Oh wait Indian homes don’t have security alarms and such. Oops sorry.

Think of it like this. If Aadhaar is this easy to misuse, it will be misused and it is being misused and so far people have just got away with it while those who exposed flaws got arrested.

How many more years do you want India to remain a ‘developing’ nation?

Forever. I hope India never stops developing. How many years do you want India to be a banana republic wannabe pleasing foreign powers at the cost of citizens?

Why are you silent on all the benefits we are seeing as a result of Aadhaar?

For the same reason I’d be silent if my 5 year old came home happily telling me about her new best friend. A grown man acting in a shady manner, whom she thinks is absolutely fantastic. There are problems that are visible to one with experience on the subject. Just because all my daughter knows about the nice man in the park is that he gives candy doesn’t mean it is a good thing.

Waise, why are you silent on the countless problemswe are seeing as a result of Aadhaar?

Why are you misleading the Indian public about Aadhaar through fear-mongering and sensationalism?

Why are you misleading the Indian public about Aadhaar through false assurances and “bagon mein bahar hai”?

Why are you willing to give biometrics to foreign govts and corporations, but not to your own govt?

Because our government is proved to be incompetent with data security. There isn’t a single other biometric database that can be queried for identity by any Tom, Dick and Harry – because it is an idiot idea to begin with, with too high error rates to be efficient at what it claims to do and too poor security to protect citizens from the risks such a database presents. Nor is anyone in this circus apparently interested or aware that citizens have rights in a democracy and you can’t just say “Idea, let me make the whole country do whatever I wish AND foot the economic and security costs of my whims without question”. BJP was right on Aadhaar when UPA was in power. Today BJP has sold the country out a hundred times more than UPA even planned (though no guarantees, it is the same creeps even now. Only the sarkari gullibles have changed) Incidentally, I haven’t given my biometrics to foreign governments and corporations, and most Indians have not.  Also foreign governments and companies have limited use of my biometrics, unlike the Aadhaar, which is being forcibly attached to absolutely every important transaction a person can do from hospitalizations to bank accounts, property to crop insurance. Misuse or denial has the power to literally finish the ability of a person to access own funds, communicate, live in own home or even survive if medical needs. No foreign government has been stupid enough to enslave own or other citizens this badly. Yet.

Tell you what, you do some homework and hardwork and expose some of that data you are comparing Aadhaar to, then we will have some grounds for an actual comparison, yes? Good part is, those guys won’t even arrest you, you’ll actually earn bug bounties. So not even risky like fighting Aadhaar under a totalitarian state.

Why are you opposed to using technology to benefit the nation?

Next you will say any and all technology is benefit only. Like the govt spamming me daily is benefit to the country, etc. Technology isn’t inherently good or bad. I am opposed to insecure technology being used to generate big data for power cartels at the cost of citizens. Benefiting the government and benefiting the nation are not necessarily the same thing. Just like dissent is a right and opposing the government is not anti-national. A government is a temporary entity that changes every five years. My nationality doesn’t change every five years. Get your civics right and a lot of these government peddling issues will get sorted.

Why speak half-truths and ignore the lakhs of people who are getting benefits for the first time because of Aadhaar?

Next you will say babies are being conceived because of Aadhaar only. In a country this size, people are constantly becoming eligible for something or the other. It isn’t because of Aadhaar. Aadhaar makes you eligible for zero benefits. It is simply the dog in the manger inserted by the government that PREVENTS otherwise eligible people from getting benefits because the government chooses to deprive them unless they surrender their privacy for it. Think about it. It is actually an imposed indignity. I will forcibly take your fingerprints if you want the pension you spent your entire career working towards. This is helplessness. Not benefit.

Cleaning up the PDS system – for example – requires cleaning up the PDS system. It doesn’t take fingerprints to know whether someone is eligible for PDS. But authentication issues sure have deprived loads of people whom you are ignoring while pointing fingers in an increasingly crazed manner.

And this is me talking because you irritated enough people that they pesterd me to reply, but the information is from the government. Most people who got Aadhaar already had documents to provide proof of address and identity for it.

 

And so on. Not bothering to read or reply further. Because personal attacks are not arguments and this is plenty to entertain those who wanted to see you get a reply. Just because you make an assumption doesn’t mean it is true. Nor are you relevant enough to the larger picture to take seriously.

Return with data, technical arguments, fact based information that isn’t just “But why don’t you ignore all the ghastly stuff and just meditate on all the pretty?” or consider this post the answer for anything you write on the subject till eternity.