[p2p-research] unique identity to every citizen

[Samuel Rose]

On Fri, Apr 30, 2010 at 12:58 AM, Nagarjuna G <nagarjun at gnowledge.org> wrote:
> In India the govt constituted an authority to create unique identity
> to each citizen, and they plan to scan all ten fingers, iris and
> photograph of every face and create an infrastructure.  Obviously they
> will be using and spending a lot of infrastructure.  the official
> website is here. http://uidai.gov.in/  About 2billion rupees have been
> allocated for this year alone for implementing this project.  Mapping
> i billion people and keeping their records is a massive job and I do
> not know if any such venture was undertaken before.
>
> Even if they use FOSS for this infrastructure, a centralized Govt
> could misuse and it may not always be used in the interest of
> citizens.  We cannot justify the project because they will use free
> software for the purpose.  I am not against using technology for
> governance, but how should that be is a question.  What guidelines
> could one suggest?
>

We now have a proposal here in USA to tie our government ID to
biometrics as part of an immigration reform bill by Democrats.

In the case of the US, it amounts to needing government permission to
work, which fundamentally violates rights/freedoms of everyone.  This
also creates a foundation for government tracking.



> >From a p2p governance view point, what do you think are the important
> factors to be taken into consideration.  What rights should citizens
> have on their data, and what protection should Govt provide?
> Shouldn't govt ask the citizen each time such data is being used.  How
> can citizens monitor?  Can we insist that such a data cannot be opened
> without the key in the custody of the citizen.  There can be many such
> questions ...
>
> I have a chance to send them my concerns.  Though they may not listen
> to us, it is good to send them an articulated response, which may help
> generate opinion.  I need to send them before 5th of May.  Can any of
> you send me some pointers to documents some of you may have written on
> this subject or related subjects.
>



This Canadian journal has some great material on this subject:

http://www.surveillance-and-society.org/ojs/index.php/journal/index

(old archive: http://www.surveillance-and-society.org/journal.htm )

See in particular the first article by Bart Simon here:
http://www.surveillance-and-society.org/issue3(1)abstracts.htm


On simple level, I believe people need to decide what their rights
are, and what government may demand from them. Not the other way
around. A significant amount of people in India, and the US must
understand their rights, and oppose the proposed identification
systems. Otherwise, I believe most people will just go along with the
proposed plans.




> --
> GN
>
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