(...)
Much has been made between Aadhaar and the US social security number. But the differences are greater than any similarities. Aadhaar uses fingerprints and eye biometrics to identify the person uniquely. The social security number originated in the years of the Great Depression, when it was used to track the earnings of workers and compute the amount of social security benefits to be credited to their accounts. The US government decided not to collect fingerprints, since “the use of fingerprints was associated in the public mind with criminal activity, making this approach undesirable”, notes the Social Security Administration, And its website states: “The card was never intended to serve as a personal identification document.” Aadhaar is being used as an identifier to link databases, which makes it easy for government officials to gain access to personal user information, such as bank records, education data, health records, and for surveillance of phone calls and data usage. This data was not linked; under Aadhaar it is. Taking this further, the government is thinking of linking the Aadhaar number to mobile phone numbers.
The present government’s rush to push for Aadhaar despite the Supreme Court’s many objections and the misgivings of many critics is in line with its eagerness to push digital money transactions. It is not just an attempt at modernisation, but having greater control and surveillance. As the demonetisation experiment proved it could bring great inconvenience to the public but not necessarily affect the government’s ability to put a spin on it to sway voters. Even more than demonetisation, Aadhaar could be sold as being good for the country since it gives greater control to the government. Government control is one thing. Private profit is another. Nandan Nilekani, in a foreword to a report by investment banker Credit-Suisse, noted that the use of Aadhaar by the financial sector could open up a $600 billion business opportunity. No wonder private companies are rushing to get their hands on the Aadhaar numbers. Full story...
Related posts:
Much has been made between Aadhaar and the US social security number. But the differences are greater than any similarities. Aadhaar uses fingerprints and eye biometrics to identify the person uniquely. The social security number originated in the years of the Great Depression, when it was used to track the earnings of workers and compute the amount of social security benefits to be credited to their accounts. The US government decided not to collect fingerprints, since “the use of fingerprints was associated in the public mind with criminal activity, making this approach undesirable”, notes the Social Security Administration, And its website states: “The card was never intended to serve as a personal identification document.” Aadhaar is being used as an identifier to link databases, which makes it easy for government officials to gain access to personal user information, such as bank records, education data, health records, and for surveillance of phone calls and data usage. This data was not linked; under Aadhaar it is. Taking this further, the government is thinking of linking the Aadhaar number to mobile phone numbers.
The present government’s rush to push for Aadhaar despite the Supreme Court’s many objections and the misgivings of many critics is in line with its eagerness to push digital money transactions. It is not just an attempt at modernisation, but having greater control and surveillance. As the demonetisation experiment proved it could bring great inconvenience to the public but not necessarily affect the government’s ability to put a spin on it to sway voters. Even more than demonetisation, Aadhaar could be sold as being good for the country since it gives greater control to the government. Government control is one thing. Private profit is another. Nandan Nilekani, in a foreword to a report by investment banker Credit-Suisse, noted that the use of Aadhaar by the financial sector could open up a $600 billion business opportunity. No wonder private companies are rushing to get their hands on the Aadhaar numbers. Full story...
Related posts:
No comments:
Post a Comment