Centre for Internet and Society

UID: Nothing to Hide, Nothing to Fear?

shilpa — 2011-09-28T11:44:21Z

Isn’t it interesting that authorities ask you about your identity and you end up showing your proof of existence! Isn’t this breaching into one’s personal life? Why so much transparency only from the public side? Why can’t the government be equally transparent to the public?, asks Shilpa Narani.

Before I get into an argument, I would like to share with you that my research is based on a comparative study of articles published on UID in leading newspapers like the Times of India, the Indian Express, the Hindustan Times, and its supplement LiveMint, Business Standard, Asian Age, DNA India, Bangalore Mirror, Deccan Chronicle and Deccan Herald. My research shows that the government officials and the individuals working for the UIDAI, who are involved in proposing identity system, are in fact hide their own identity from the public.

Background

A pan-India project to “identify” each resident was formally inaugurated in 2009, with the establishment of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) as an office attached to the Planning Commission.[1] The goal of the Unique ID project is to issue a unique identity number to every resident in the country. The Unique Identification number (UID) will be linked to every resident’s basic demographic and biometric details, and stored in the UIDAI central database.[2] Now a 12 digit number will henceforth decide whether you exist or not? It will decide whether you remain a known or an unknown person? With this blog I would like to highlight the irony in the UIDAI's attempt to establish if a person is known or is unknown with a 12 digit number.

An identity card virus seems to be spreading across India. Everyone is praising the UID and the social, economic, and political improvements it will bring. “The aim of the UID scheme is to bring transparency in the system,'' says Sonia Gandhi.[3] One has to wonder though — if the aim of the UID is to bring transparency, why it is that government and UIDAI officials are not transparent themselves?

Findings

According to my research, in 55 news articles taken from different newspapers mentioned above, there are 66 persons who shared their views on UID only on the condition of anonymity. Most of these individuals were public servants who themselves did not wish to be identified. For instance, one individual was from the department of information technology, who is working on the UID project and with the UIDAI itself.

Total Anonymous

As one can see from the graph above, the total number of anonymous people sharing their perspectives on the UID are more than the total number of identified people sharing their perspective on the UID. Below is a detailed review of UID articles from each newspaper:

Times of India: Out of 13 articles, Times of India quoted nine anonymous sources in which there were HRD officials, civic sources, sources from census operation department, collectorate sources, senior postal officials, UIDAI officials, and unclassified individuals. Times of India only quoted four identified sources.

Indian Express: Out of 10 articles, the Indian Express quoted twelve anonymous sources including sources from senior officials of the AADHAR office, senior Delhi government officials and some unclassified sources. Again only four identified sources were quoted.

LiveMint: Out of 7 articles, the Live Mint quoted 15 anonymous sources including sources from the Information Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), UIDAI, Bank of India, a senior SEBI official, sources from ministry, etc. Only 11 sources revealed their identity.

Hindustan Times: Out of 3 articles, there were 6 anonymous sources, and 5 sources that were identified. Anonymous sources were from UIDAI, finance ministry, and other government officials.

Deccan Herald: Out of 11 articles, there were 14 anonymous sources and only 6 were identified. Anonymous sources included UIDAI officials, banks, senior officials from government, and unclassified sources as well.

Asian Age: Out of 4 articles, there were 5 anonymous sources. Anonymous sources included government officials and some unclassified officials.

Power of Identity: Why is anonymity important?

UID has the potential to threaten an individual’s ability to be anonymous in society. Anonymity results when the personal identity or personally identifiable information of a person is not known. As demonstrated above, a certain amount of anonymity already exists in India today, but with the coming of the UID there is the potential that this will be changed.

Conclusion

As Sonia Gandhi herself said, the UID's aim is to bring transparency in the system. Though the government is eager to make the Indian public transparent in their everyday lives, clearly from the analysis above, individuals working for the government and UIDAI are not comfortable being transparent to the public. It is ironic that the individuals developing and working for this scheme are not willing to voice their opinion and be identified, but private individuals are. Though the UID scheme is being promoted as a way to make the people accountable and visible in the eyes of the government, from the very start of the project the UIDAI and government have kept themselves under a cloud of secrecy. The government’s non-transparent attitude towards this project and the unawareness of its use on the people makes the whole scheme shady and unnecessary.

Notes

[1]http://uidai.gov.in/UID_PDF/Front_Page_Articles/Documents/Strategy_Overveiw-001.pdf

[2]http://uidai.gov.in/UID_PDF/Working_Papers/UID_and_iris_paper_final.pdf

[3]http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-09-30/india/28243557_1_uid-number-unique-id-numbers-tembhli

Download the UID Summary Grid here [Excel, 19kb]

For the summary of articles in newspapers, click here

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/privacy/uid-nothing-to-hide-fear

An Overview of DNA Labs in India

shilpa — 2016-02-02T13:11:31Z

DNA fingerprinting has become the most precise and technologically advanced method for identifying crimes such as murder, kidnapping, robbery and rape. Police and judicial authorities and in some cases even private parties retain this in their records, writes Shilpa in this blog post.

At present, India does not have a national law that empowers the government to collect and store DNA profiles of convicts but if the Parliament of India passes the DNA Profiling Bill,[1] 2007, India will soon join countries such as the US and UK in creating a national DNA database.[2] Government, CBI and organizations connected with the investigation process argue that data retention is necessary to combat terrorism and crime. According to Google Transparency Report [3] for the first half of 2010, India had 1,430 data requests, which made it one of the top nations in generating government inquiries for information.

In this blog I am citing my interviews with DNA labs, Issues regarding lab samples and data, and DNA Profiling Bill 2007 on lab practices. I am thankful to Anthony Jackson and Dr. Helen Wallace, Executive Director from Gene watch UK who helped me with the questionnaire for survey interview.

Interviews with DNA labs

I interviewed few government as well as private labs to find out how DNA practices are being carried out. This was to highlight ways in which DNA testing raises privacy concerns.

In public labs, DNA testing is used for the forensic purposes only. These labs are funded by the government whereas private labs deal with legal as well as private purposes. DNA Labs India (DLI), Truth Labs and Bio-Axis DNA Research Centre (P) Limited are some leading private firms involved in DNA testing.

Dr. Madhusudan Reddy Nandineni, who is the Scientist and In-charge of the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) talked about the working of DNA practise and services provided by their laboratory. “CDFD located in Hyderabad is an autonomous institution supported by the Department of Biotechnology and Ministry of Science. CDFD provides services for DNA testing for establishment of parentage, identification of mutilated remains, establishment of biological relationships for immigration, organ transplantation, property inheritance cases, identification of missing children and child swapping in hospitals, identification of rapists in rape cases, and murderers in murder cases. CDFD assists police personnel, forensic scientists, lawyers and the judiciary”, says Dr. Madhusudan Nandineni over a telephonic interview.

The ND Tiwari Case (Published in the Deccan Herald, 24 July 2011)
Eighty-five-year-old leader ND Tiwari was asked to undergo a DNA test in the paternity suit filed by Rohit Shekhar who claims to be his biological son. The high court asked the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagontics (CDFD) at Hyderabad to conduct a DNA test on Tiwari.[4] Also refusing to grant any relief to Tiwari, the court said that considering the age of the leader, it is necessary to have a DNA test so that the Rohit Shekhar is not left without any remedy if something happens to Tiwari. The court said that it is the right of a child to know his or her biological father.[5]

Dr. BK Mahapatra, Assistant Director, Biology & DNA Finger printing Unit at Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Delhi says “CFSL undertakes cases referred by CBI, Delhi police, judiciary, vigilance department of ministries, public undertakings and state/central government departments. We don’t contract with private laboratory to do a DNA testing. We accept all type of DNA cases submissions like criminal, known, unknown, etc. CFSL saves DNA samples for re-testing, however, for this we do have a privacy policy followed by National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL). It is an autonomous body under the aegis of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India and is registered under the Societies Act”, he clarified.

In a telephonic interview with Ravi Kiran Reddy, DNA expert, DLI a, tells us about the services provided and security supervise by the laboratory. “DLI provides services for paternity testing, forensic testing, prenatal testing, and genetic testing. DLI contracted with a private laboratory to do DNA testing. We accept all DNA cases like suicide attempts, cases from Indian Army, etc. DLI saves DNA samples for re-testing for six months and if necessary for life time and a database is also maintained. He further said that to protect and secure database, bar coding is being prepared and therefore, no identity is revealed.

Some of the labs refused to participate in the research exercise like the truth labs. Truth Labs is a private lab that provides legal services directly, without a court or police order.[6] Another private laboratory which provides DNA testing is Bio-Axis DNA Research Centre. It also provide various DNA Identification services for private purposes, legal purposes, peace of mind, confidential purposes, immigration purposes, crime investigation and human identification purposes.[7]

Issues Regarding Lab Samples and Data

Readers may have heard of rapists being caught because of a match between a suspect's DNA and sperm left behind in a victim. Or, as often the case, an innocent person may be released because the DNA of that person does not match that found in a crime scene.[8]

Possibility of Framing Innocents: Kshitij Urs, an Action Aid said, “There can be some problems if one were to rely too much on DNA databases in the criminal justice system as DNA evidence can be planted in a crime scene intentionally”, in an event organised by CIS.
Insecurity of Centralised Storage: With DNA tests, a patient's medical file will contain information they would prefer to be confidential. But the whole idea of general DNA testing will only be effective if the data is stored in a single electronic database, which makes the confidentiality problem extremely pressing. For example, the results of DNA testing might reveal that a person who is legally a child's father isn't really his biological father.[9]
Other Privacy Concerns: DNA contains information that raises a much broader privacy and other civil liberties concerns. It can tell investigators about ourselves, our family members, diseases we may have inherited our physical attributes and broad ancestry. Genetic information can be used in all sorts of discriminatory ways.[10]

What can be done?
There should be a DNA retention policy to protect an individual. It will identify personal data which has to be maintained and contain guidelines for how long certain documents should be kept and how they should be destroyed.[11] In the situation of DNA collection and testing privacy cannot be protected simply through consent from an individual. Instead the law must permit specific thresholds to be established in order to cover the privacy needs of different situations. DNA profiling Bill 2007 will regulate the use of DNA profiles which is pending in the Parliament.

DNA Profiling Bill 2007 on Lab Practices

According to the DNA Profiling Bill there are certain rules for the DNA laboratories which are followed by these labs.

Prohibition for undertaking DNA procedures: It states that DNA laboratories have to take prior permission from the DNA Profiling Board to undertake any DNA procedures.
Security and minimize contamination: There should be proper facility of security and minimize contamination of DNA samples.
Confidentiality, Access to DNA Profiles, Samples and Records: DNA Profiling Bill states that all DNA profiles, samples and records forwarded to the DNA laboratory or any authority of the lab has to be kept confidential.
Use of DNA profiles, samples and records: All DNA profiles, samples and records should be used only for facilitating identification of the perpetrator(s) of a specified offence and also to identify victims of accidents, disasters or missing persons or for such other purposes.
Authorised Access: It also says that information stored on the DNA database system may be accessed by the authorized persons for the purposes of forensic comparison permitted under this Act, administering the DNA database system, accessing any information contained in it by law enforcement officers or any other persons, as may be prescribed, in accordance with provisions of any law for the time being in force, inquest or inquiry.
Restrictions on use of information on DNA profiles, samples and data identification records: Laboratory cannot use the information for any purpose other than the purpose for which the communication or access is permitted.
Destruction, alterations, contamination, tampering with biological evidence: The Bill states that whoever knowingly or intentionally destroys alters, contaminates or tampers with biological evidence will be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years, or with fine not exceeding twenty thousand rupees, or with both.[12]

Conclusion

Currently the Bill allows for the complete storage of DNA of criminals, suspects, victims, offenders and volunteers.
There are no standard practices for data retention across lab. Thereby there is an increased risk that data might fall in wrong hands and information may also be misused. Therefore, DNA databases should be restricted to be stored for not more than a limited time period. Such indefinite retention of the DNA profiles of innocent individuals is a disproportionate and unnecessary interference with an individual’s right to privacy.
DNA labs in India have numerous constraints and operating in different level. Therefore, India has to be having even more carefully designed laws.

List of Laboratories

Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Delhi
Dr. BK Mahapatra
Associate Biology Division
Ph: 9312523536, 24360095
Mail: ssofs_dfs@dfs.gov.in

Centre For Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), Hyderabad
Dr. Madhusudan Nandineni
Scientist and In-charge
Ph: 24749331, 24749330
Mail: dsp@cdfd.org.in

DNA Labs India, Hyderabad
Ravi Kiran Reddy
Ph: 9395142800
Mail: info@dnalabsindia.org

Bio-Axis DNA Research Centre
Ph: 9246338983
Mail: drc@dnares.in

Truth Labs, Hyderabad
Ph: 9490690222, 04023390999
Mail: gandhi@truthlabs.org

Notes

[1]http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/DNA-Profiling-Bill

[2]http://www.gene-watch.org/blog/post/India-May-Soon-Have-a-National-DNA-Database.aspx

[3]Amy Miller, “Google’s new tool shows which countries are censoring the internet” http://www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1202472346375

[4]Paternity case: No relief for N D Tiwari as Supreme Court allows DNA test http://www.indianexpress.com/news/paternity-case-no-relief-for-n-d-tiwari-as/762146/

[5]Paternity case: ND Tiwari to provide blood sample for DNA test http://www.deccanherald.com/content/165408/paternity-case-nd-tiwari-provide.html

[6]http://www.truthlabs.org/

[7]Bio-Axis Research Centre, http://www.dnatestinginindia.ewebsite.com

[8]Sujatha Byravan , A public, private database http://www.indiatogether.org/2009/sep/hrt-dnadb.htm

[9]Vibhor Verdhan, Data Retention Policies- An Emerging Requirement & Various Compliances http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l428-Data-Retention-Policies.html

[10]Andrei Kislyakov , DNA testing: pros & cons http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20090104/119294260.html

[11]Vibhor Verdhan, Data Retention Policies- An Emerging Requirement & Various Compliances

[12]DNA Profiling Bill http://dbtindia.nic.in/DNA_Bill.pdf

Click here for the Survey Questions

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the main constituent of the chromosomes of all organisms, and is found in the form of a double helix within the nucleus of every somatic cell. Consequently, a small sample of human body cells can be decoded to reveal a pattern that is shared only by a genetically identical twin. The DNA of each individual does not change during his lifetime. This technique is commonly used in police investigations and is termed ‘DNA fingerprinting. For more see the Wikipedia definition of DNA.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/privacy/dna-overview