Dissent on Aadhaar: big data meets big brother

Also published in the Hindi language as Aadhaar per aitraaz: aalakaman ke haath big data and is available in the library (Acc No- 200814)

Table of contents

Foreword by Justice (Retd) Ajit Prakash Shah
Acknowledgments
Introduction by Reetika Khera
1. Impact of Aadhaar in Welfare Programmes
Reetika Khera
2. On the Margins of Aadhaar: The Living Dead, and Food ‘Disruptions’
Anumeha Yadav
3. A Unique Identity Dilemma
Jean Dre`ze
4. Aadhaar and Privacy
Reetika Khera
5. Surveillance Project
Sunil Abraham
6. Aadhaar—Identity or Dystopia?
Viswanath L.
7. Inside the Plumbing of Technology Projects
Kiran Jonnalagadda
8. Aadhaar’s Biometric Tsunami: Will it Sweep Away Privacy, Drown Civil Liberties?
Shyam Divan
9. Aadhaar—Constitutionally Challenged
Prasanna S.
10. The Privacy Judgment
Gautam Bhatia
11. The Relevance of Children’s Consent under a Mandatory Aadhaar Regime
Kritika Bhardwaj
12. Aadhaar—From Welfare to Profit
Usha Ramanathan
13. Public Investments and Private Profits
M. S. Sriram
14. Is Aadhaar like the Social Security Number?
Srujana Bej
15. Identity and Development: Questioning Aadhaar’s Digital Credentials
Gus Hosein and Edgar Whitley
Post-script
List of Contributors
Name Index
Subject Index

Aadhaar, India’s unique identity system, was introduced in 2009 with the stated purpose of creating a more inclusive and efficient welfare system. Hundreds of millions of Indians were enrolled in the biometric database, with successive governments creating pressure by making it compulsory for social benefits. Even after the Supreme Court verdict in 2018, it remains a must-have for welfare.
Dissent on Aadhaar argues that Aadhaar was never really about welfare. The essays in this book explain how the project opens the doors to immense opportunities for government surveillance and commercial data-mining.
Focussing on Aadhaar, but drawing lessons from ID projects from other parts of the world also, this book alerts readers to the dangers lurking in such expansive digital ID projects. For example, how profiling, made possible by Aadhaar, impinges on the fundamental Right to Privacy; or how surveillance leads to self-censorship and can choke free thought and expression; or how Aadhaar, contrary to government claims, excludes people entitled by right from welfare when made compulsory. On the technology side, what are the perils of using biometrics and the dangers arising from centralized databases? Who has access to all our data, and how can it be used against us?
With contributions from economists, lawyers, technologists, journalists, and civil liberties campaigners, this book is for everyone concerned about a healthy democracy in India and beyond. It will also be of interest to students and scholars of political science, law, and public policy.

https://www.orientblackswan.com/BookDescription?isbn=978-93-5287-542-9&t=e