Support UID: Why it is not a monster

"Sleep quickly, or the UID monster will come and get you!".

Get a hold of yourselves, people.

Before letting our imagination take hold of our reality, let us ask ourselves: How can a project conceived to be pro-poor turn into a nightmarish-monster-that-will-get-you-so-run-away-now? I'll examine a few possibilities here and perhaps add more posts if I hear new possibilities.

1. "Order a pizza" scenario (privacy concerns): 

• You call to order a pizza... they know everything about you and your mother-in-law... and your nano.. so you faint). A popular dramatization quoted in many places. Search for Usha Ramanathan's article on "A Unique Identity Bill" if you haven't read this yet. 

Impressive piece of imagination. But poor in a fundamental detail. They neither need UID nor your biometrics for that. Your bank and your credit card company already knows more about you than all this. If they choose to, your mobile service providers track you 10-times better than this. A pity, nobody warned you before you got that piece of plastic or that new connection.

Many state governments are already working on integrating all the databases they have in some manner or the other. They don't really need UID or your biometrics for this. Your telephone number, email address, PAN#, or-anything-else-at-all, will do. Why they DO NEED UID is to avoid the real scare... that of mixing up your wife's info with someone's 6-yr old kiddo and causing a real mess.

Now let us reimagine that pizza scenario. 'nuff said.

2. Can lack of adequate privacy laws turn the UID Project a monster?

First off the IT Act has already been strengthened in this regard. I am not a lawyer but it is still part of my professional reading. Does the UID Project seek any exceptions from this or any other acts with regard to privacy? Quite the opposite, I think.

As I have already said elsewhere, they are miles ahead in this area than any other government -- or private (yes, including your credit card and mobile company) organizations. 

Finally, the project design naturally and effectively hinders any sort of exploitation due to "intentions gone awry" logic. The UID database has identity info -- but nothing of the benefits and transactions being carried out. They are all handled separately and by different agencies. We need a "mass collusion" theory to crack that one. 

3. Surveillance potential due to UID as a "universal and ubiquitous tag"?

Since the "let us go back to the caves then..." line as already been tried before, I will try a tad more serious approach. 

Even without this tag, there are many other tags by surveillance will be possible (only slightly more inconvenient) and is being done as we speak. e.g., Every mobile company gives the police the ability to tap into any conversation they want to; see where they calls are originating from and landing at, as well as listen in! Surprised? Unlike in the movies, they don't need 50-something seconds of conversation to complete a trace. It is done before the phone even rings and not a second of conversation needs to be missed. Many of the readers will also remember the Blackberry brouhaha (conditions for entry into India) in this context.

In case you missed the point, your mobile phone number is a voluntarily adopted near-universal and ubiquitous tag and it is being used for surveillance. The only reasonable solution is to ensure that the law makers and the police don't misuse it. Not to ban phones and go back to smoke-signals. Same goes for UID.

Bottomline: It is not the UID Project that turns everything into monsters. All it is doing is to give a reliable and convenient way for people to prove their identity. The attendant evils if any are already present in our system. We need to address those... not banish the UID project. That won't solve anything.

Look forward to hearing more in support of UID project. Keep it up folks.