Concerned about misuse of Aadhaar data by pvt cos: SC
AmitAnand.Choudhary@timesgroup.com 28.03.2018
New Delhi: The Supreme Court expressed concern on Tuesday over the potential misuse of Aadhaar data collected by private companies for commercial use and said safety measures put by UIDAI may not be sufficient to deal with the problem as there is no data protection law in the country.
UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey concluded his Power-Point presentation in the courtroom with a strong pitch to convince a Constitution bench of CJI Dipak Misra and Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan that Aadhaar data was well protected and could not be breached. However, the bench pointed out two loopholes in the system — the private operator at the time of enrolment in Aadhaar could keep a copy of the data to himself and, second, private firms which are using the Aadhaar platform could also collect the authentication data of customers. The SC said in both cases the data could be misused for commercial gains.
‘Modi’s website not hosted on US server’
ABJP spokesperson denied a claim by a French cyber security researcher who goes by the pseudonym Elliot Alderson that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s website narendramodi.in is hosted on a US server. P 14
‘CleverTap doesn’t do anything funny’
Following speculation over its role in the user data shared by the Modi app, US-based firm CleverTap has published a blog clarifying its stand on privacy. “CleverTap doesn’t do anything funny with publisher data,” co-founder Anand Jain said. P14
‘Data collected by a pvt agency can be copied’
“Security at your end would not ensure data protection. My concern is about the misuse of data at another end point,” Justice Chandrachud said while pointing out that authentication data could be collected by private companies.
Pandey contended that under the present system, UIDAI would never know for what purpose the authentication was done and it did not collect data pertaining to purpose, location and details of the authentication. He said collection of such data was prohibited under the Aadhaar Act.
The bench, however, said, “There are two ends of authentication. You said that you do not retain information on the purpose of authentication but the private entity before whom authentication is done could retain the data or the number at the time authentication was done and the information could be used for commercial purposes. What is there to prevent the private sector from collecting the data?” Justice Chandrachud asked the UIDAI chief.
The bench also said data collected by a private enrolment agency could easily be copied before sending it to the authority concerned.
The UIDAI chief admitted that the enrolment agency could copy the data and said that there was also the possibility that experts could tamper with the software used for collecting data but tried to allay the apprehension of the court by saying that people could be punished for indulging in such activities as it was an offence.
Now, PAN-Aadhaar linking deadline extended to June 30
New Delhi: The income tax department has extended the deadline for linking of Permanent Account Number (PAN) with Aadhaar till June 30 from the current deadline of March 31.
The I-T order comes in view of the Supreme Court directing the government to extend the March 31deadline for linking Aadhaar with various other services. This is a fourth extension by the I-T department.
The offices of the income tax department will remain open across the country on March 29, 30 and 31, which are public holidays, for all taxpayers to deposit taxes and file their returns before the end of current financial year.
“To facilitate filing of income tax returns and completion of associated work, all income tax offices throughout India shall remain open from March 29 to 31,” a statement from the Central Board of Direct Taxes said. TNN
AmitAnand.Choudhary@timesgroup.com 28.03.2018
New Delhi: The Supreme Court expressed concern on Tuesday over the potential misuse of Aadhaar data collected by private companies for commercial use and said safety measures put by UIDAI may not be sufficient to deal with the problem as there is no data protection law in the country.
UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey concluded his Power-Point presentation in the courtroom with a strong pitch to convince a Constitution bench of CJI Dipak Misra and Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan that Aadhaar data was well protected and could not be breached. However, the bench pointed out two loopholes in the system — the private operator at the time of enrolment in Aadhaar could keep a copy of the data to himself and, second, private firms which are using the Aadhaar platform could also collect the authentication data of customers. The SC said in both cases the data could be misused for commercial gains.
‘Modi’s website not hosted on US server’
ABJP spokesperson denied a claim by a French cyber security researcher who goes by the pseudonym Elliot Alderson that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s website narendramodi.in is hosted on a US server. P 14
‘CleverTap doesn’t do anything funny’
Following speculation over its role in the user data shared by the Modi app, US-based firm CleverTap has published a blog clarifying its stand on privacy. “CleverTap doesn’t do anything funny with publisher data,” co-founder Anand Jain said. P14
‘Data collected by a pvt agency can be copied’
“Security at your end would not ensure data protection. My concern is about the misuse of data at another end point,” Justice Chandrachud said while pointing out that authentication data could be collected by private companies.
Pandey contended that under the present system, UIDAI would never know for what purpose the authentication was done and it did not collect data pertaining to purpose, location and details of the authentication. He said collection of such data was prohibited under the Aadhaar Act.
The bench, however, said, “There are two ends of authentication. You said that you do not retain information on the purpose of authentication but the private entity before whom authentication is done could retain the data or the number at the time authentication was done and the information could be used for commercial purposes. What is there to prevent the private sector from collecting the data?” Justice Chandrachud asked the UIDAI chief.
The bench also said data collected by a private enrolment agency could easily be copied before sending it to the authority concerned.
The UIDAI chief admitted that the enrolment agency could copy the data and said that there was also the possibility that experts could tamper with the software used for collecting data but tried to allay the apprehension of the court by saying that people could be punished for indulging in such activities as it was an offence.
Now, PAN-Aadhaar linking deadline extended to June 30
New Delhi: The income tax department has extended the deadline for linking of Permanent Account Number (PAN) with Aadhaar till June 30 from the current deadline of March 31.
The I-T order comes in view of the Supreme Court directing the government to extend the March 31deadline for linking Aadhaar with various other services. This is a fourth extension by the I-T department.
The offices of the income tax department will remain open across the country on March 29, 30 and 31, which are public holidays, for all taxpayers to deposit taxes and file their returns before the end of current financial year.
“To facilitate filing of income tax returns and completion of associated work, all income tax offices throughout India shall remain open from March 29 to 31,” a statement from the Central Board of Direct Taxes said. TNN
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