Unique ID Cards: Boon or Bane?

How safe is it to hand over our personal data to a group of people? How can we trust them when we all know that most of the bank frauds are done by people inside the organizations?  Isn’t it quite likely that one with such a huge pool of information will be tempted to misuse it? And that will result into fake ID cards or multiple cards in the name of one individual. Besides, suppose that person quits the job, but then the information, even if selected ones, will be with him. And if that person has any personal grudge against some one he can use the information against that person and cause him trouble. So, who is going to guarantee that? Also is it practicable to check the whole database at each new enrolment to ensure that a biometric just registered is not already on the database? As India is waiting for its Unique ID cards, some experts are raising certain ethical issues and issues pertaining to individual privacy.

The IDcards are a project of Unique Identification Authority of India or the UIDAI, an agency of the Government of India responsible for implementing the envisioned Multipurpose National Identity Card or Unique Identification card (UID Card) project in India This Project is intended at providing a unique identity to the targeted population of the Government's flagship schemes like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan and Bharat Nirman. Nandan Nilekani Infosys Technologies Ex Co-Chairman is heading this project with the grade and position of a Cabinet minister.

When asked about his take on the ethical issues related to the ID cards, Mr Nilelani, said, “Protection of the individual and the safeguarding their information is inherent in the design of the UID project. From having a random number which does not reveal anything about the individual to other features listed below, the UID project keeps the interest of the resident at the core of its purpose and objectives”. He further illustrated his plans as follows:

•The UIDAI is collecting only basic data fields - Name, Date of Birth, Gender, Address, Parent/ Guardian’s (name essential for children but not for others) photo, 10 finger prints and iris scan.

• The UIDAI policy bars it from collecting personal information such as religion, caste, community, class, ethnicity, income and health. The profiling of individuals is therefore not possible through the UID system.

• The UIDAI will not reveal personal information in the Aadhaar database – the only response will be a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to requests to verify an identity

• The UID database is not linked to any other databases, or to information held in other databases. Its only purpose will be to verify a person’s identity at the point of receiving a service, and that too with the consent of the aadhaar number holder.

The UID database will be guarded both physically and electronically by a few select individuals with high clearance. The data will be secured with the best encryption, and in a highly secure data vault. All access details will be properly logged.

However, there still remain some doubts and concerns about the validity of such cards. Partha Das Chowdhury, CEO, eMotions Infomedia (P) Ltd. (a security software company), is not too sure about the authenticity of such cards. According to him the utmost strength of a system is as strong as its weakest link. Partha has done his PhD in the area of anonymity, privacy and trust in the electronic world and has watched the whole ID card debate closely in the UK. “Like the birthday paradox (if there are 28 people in a room it’s highly probable that two of them will share the same birth day) it’s also probable that finger prints of two people can be similar when encoded (physical finger prints of any two people however, can never be similar). Then there is the question of connectivity? What happens if the server is down while undergoing identification? Is it possible to do it manually?” queried the electronic security professional.

On the other hand Abhirup Sarkar, Professor ISI, Kolkata feels that while such cards can be used for many useful purposes like it’s done in UK and US and can also prove useful in future to individuals in making other ID cards or going through procedures that involve identification. “Besides, what is most important is that it will be an extremely useful tool for the government for identifying each and every citizen of India, if and when required,” pondered Sarkar. However the prof. also mentioned that the chances of the information getting misused, as in making fake passports, cannot be overruled.

Prasun Mukherjee, ex-commissioner of Kolkata Police who was also The Director General of The Bureau of Police Research and Development, seemed very optimistic about the UID project. “Though an ambitious one, the project if and when materializes will prove to be a useful one for the country. It’s being done for the larger good of the country. Financial transactions will hence forth be much more transport as every transaction will have to be done through the unique ID cards. This will put a curb on the exponential rise in black money,” mused a concerned Mukherjee. The ethical issues according to him are associated with almost all projects that deal with people’s identity. “Banks, hotels, airlines and even email accounts involve documenting personal details. And all over the world people are trusting individuals in different systems with their personal data. The question of mishandling of data is always there in every system but cannot stop a system from operating. There are multiple instances of fake passports, so shall we stop making passport then? Same is true with the unique ID cards. We have to trust the state with our personal data for the larger good. And if one is confident about his/her financial deals then what’s the trouble in making it known to the state?” opined the ace ex IPS officer.

With a population of 1,155,347,678, India is a vast country and to make a unique ID card for all her citizens is a gigantic task. While it’s important and relevant in the country’s present perspective of terror attacks and recurrent scams, to have control over the identity of its people, the ethical issues cannot be ignored. We can just hope that Nandan Nilekani with his team will be diligent enough to come up with a full proof and credible solution which would not only prevent India from becoming a database state but at the same time the purpose of ID cards would be fulfilled without compromising the goals of authentication and authorization.