Surveillance

https://countercurrents.org/2022/09/aadhaar-number-database-a-tool-for-electoral-surveillance/ 

States, opposition parties clueless even after four years of Section 57 of Aadhaar Act being declared unconstitutional. Five years after Supreme Court’s verdict, no right to privacy law in sight, audit of UIDAI & Aadhaar schemes by CAG reveals Aadhaar Act as Black law

UIDAI’s Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR) of UID/Aadhaar Numbers and related sensitive information is akin to what Cathy O’Neil refers to as Weapons of Math Destruction while explaining the societal impact of the algorithm. It reveals how the use of big data and algorithms in a variety of fields, including education, and policing, insurance and advertising can lead to decisions that harm the poor, facilitate profiling for the minorities of all shades, reinforce racism, and amplifies inequality and creates a “toxic cocktail for democracy.” Her book won the Euler Book Prize of the Mathematical Association of America in 2019. Features used by UIDAI and its foreign technology solution providers are opaque, unregulated, and difficult to contest. They are also scalable, thereby amplifying any inherent biases to affect increasingly larger populations. These Weapons of Math Destruction are essentially Weapons of Mass Destruction.

press release

26/09/2022

A see-sawing transparency regime Sarkari Secrets  Venkatesh Nayak Venkatesh Nayak, Aug 14 2022  https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/a-see-sawing-transparency-regime-1135953.html  The Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act (CPI Act). Now, even a Head Constable or a Head Jail Warder may forcibly collect biometrics, behavioural data and biological samples from any crime suspect, or a convict, or anybody jailed under preventive detention laws. .. Judicial scrutiny about the necessity of such an exercise is minimal -- all in the name of improving the quality of forensics-based criminal investigation for securing a higher crime conviction rate. .. The Union Cabinet note justifying the need for the CPI Act..has (after an RTI) also become a Sarkari secret, like several others covering important policy matters and governance-related decisions.

INDIA DELAYS VPN RULES TO LOG CUSTOMERS' DATA BY THREE MONTHS

Unchecked surveillance
 https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/11/1/indian-activists-lawyers-accuse-government-of-spying-on-them]

Rising digital authoritarianism https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/6/28/modis-critics-have-a-precarious-life-in-india

Authorities are forcing providers of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to retain the names and addresses of their customers and their computer IP addresses.

VPN providers have  threatened to pull out of the country https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/14/vpn-firms-are-removing-servers-in-india-ahead-of-new-rules/ ]

Cybersecurity experts in India and globally called on the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) to suspend the rules https://www.accessnow.org/india-cert-in-directions-experts-joint-letter ]

the government body has delayed implementation until September. Experts' call for further consultation to protect Indians’ privacy and ensure a framework that "truly strengthens cybersecurity that empowers users in India." https://www.accessnow.org/india-cert-in-directions-experts/

Twitter hires ‘alarming number’ of ex-spies – investigation https://www.rt.com/news/557770-twitter-hires-spies-number/  in recent years the company employed “dozens of individuals from the national security state to work in the fields of security, trust, safety and content.”.. “Twitter also directly employs active army officers. In 2019, Gordon Macmillan, the head of editorial for the entire Europe, Middle East and Africa region was revealed to be an officer in the British Army’s notorious 77th Brigade – a unit dedicated to online warfare and psychological operations. 

Ultimately, MintPress found that Twitter is not the only social media platform that’s “cultivating such an intimate relationship with the FBI and other groups belonging to the secret state.”