{"id":32201,"date":"2018-10-29T13:03:47","date_gmt":"2018-10-29T07:33:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=32201"},"modified":"2018-10-29T13:03:47","modified_gmt":"2018-10-29T07:33:47","slug":"data-theft-on-uidai-expose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/data-theft-on-uidai-expose\/","title":{"rendered":"Data theft: on UIDAI expos\u00e9\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Data theft: on UIDAI expos\u00e9<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Context<\/strong><\/p>\n

The UIDAI expos\u00e9 is another reminderof the need for a robust data protection law<\/p>\n

The UIDAI expos\u00e9 is another reminder of the need for a robust data protection law<\/strong><\/p>\n

Undercover investigations or so-called sting operations occupy a complex and problematical ethical space in journalism, but it is impossible to fault\u00a0The Tribune<\/em>\u2019s expos\u00e9,\u00a0published after accessing Aadhaar\u2019s database\u00a0of names, numbers and addresses<\/p>\n

Public interest outweighs the act of unauthorised access<\/strong><\/p>\n

To begin with, the public interest \u2014 which lay in showing how easily the database could be breached and drawing attention to the existence of an organised racket to facilitate this \u2014 far outweighed, or more than compensated for, the act of unauthorised access, in this case secured on payment of a few hundred rupees<\/p>\n

In the best journalistic tradition <\/strong><\/p>\n

The investigation was written up in the best journalistic tradition \u2014 it focussed on how the data were being mined for money, it did not leak any Aadhaar numbers or other details to establish this, and it sought and received a response from shocked officials of the Unique Identification Authority of India before going to print<\/p>\n

Would have been a Travesty of Justice<\/strong><\/p>\n

It would have constituted a direct attack on free public-spirited journalism and dissuaded attempts to hold public authorities and institutions accountable for shortcomings and promises.<\/p>\n

Encrypted Aadhaar biometric database has not been compromised<\/strong><\/p>\n

Given the noisy hubbub and the misinformation about what was breached, it is perhaps important to stress that the encrypted Aadhaar biometric database has not been compromised<\/p>\n

UIDAI: No misuse without obtaining biometric data<\/strong><\/p>\n

The UIDAI is correct in stating that mere information such as phone numbers and addresses (much of which is already available to telemarketers and others from other databases) cannot be misused without biometric data<\/p>\n

Aadhaar project isn\u2019t compromised<\/strong><\/p>\n

The suggestion that the entire Aadhaar project has been compromised is therefore richly embroidered.<\/p>\n

Precautions should be taken<\/strong><\/p>\n

But even so, it is obligatory for those who collect such information \u2014 whether it is the government or a private player such as a mobile company \u2014 ought to see that it is secure and not used for purposes other than that for which it was collected<\/p>\n

Need a legal framework for data protection<\/strong><\/p>\n

In this digital age, a growing pool of personal information that can be easily shared has become available to government and private entities. India does not have a legal definition of what constitutes personal information and lacks a robust and comprehensive data protection law<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

We need to have both quickly in place if the Supreme Court\u2019s judgment according privacy the status of a fundamental right is to have any meaning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Data theft: on UIDAI expos\u00e9\u00a0 Context The UIDAI expos\u00e9 is another reminderof the need for a robust data protection law The UIDAI expos\u00e9 is another reminder of the need for a robust data protection law Undercover investigations or so-called sting operations occupy a complex and problematical ethical space in journalism, but it is impossible to… Continue reading Data theft: on UIDAI expos\u00e9\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-test-1","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704947412},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32201\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}