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India Scans a Billion Irises In Interest of National Security (thestack.com)

Posted by timothy on from the nothing-can-go-wrong dept.

An anonymous reader writes: The Indian government is using a loophole to fast-track legislation to allow federal agencies access to its database of 1 billion individuals' finger prints and iris scans. The Aadhaar database was set up in 2009 to 'streamline' benefit payments and help control fraud. The programme claims to have saved an estimated 150 billion rupees (approx. $2.2 billion) between 2014-2015. Privacy advocates are expressing fears that an approval in parliament could facilitate a police state, with data used to silence individuals considered as potential security threats, as well as presenting an enormous risk if breached.

50 comments

  1. Impossible! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    MySQL can't handle that much data.

  2. Peoplw will just line up for there bar code. by mmiscool · · Score: 1

    It is kind of funny that in place that the cow is sacred the people are being tagged and indexed like cattle.

    1. Re:Peoplw will just line up for there bar code. by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 2

      How does this compare with the USA's "Real ID" project, which will essentially require a passport or federally-approved ID (no more drivers' licenses) to travel domestically by 2020.

      https://www.dhs.gov/real-id-and-you-rumor-control

    2. Re:Peoplw will just line up for there bar code. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Let's see, one is legislative response to certain localities violating federal immigration law and giving identical identification cards to non-citizens as citizens, the other is a national database of biometric data on their entire population.

      Are you really that stupid?

      Also, your link does not say what you think it does.

    3. Re:Peoplw will just line up for there bar code. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      s/travel/fly/g

      It makes a big difference to your statement. It's still ridiculous, but, apart from Hawaii and Alaska, there's nothing stopping you from visiting all the other states without ID. In fact, you can visit Hawaii and Alaska without ID, it's just a pain in the ass (you'll need to rent a boat).

    4. Re:Peoplw will just line up for there bar code. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have one reply to that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biometric_passport#/media/File:Biometric_Passport_Map.png
      Where-ever you live, the government probably has your photo and fingerprint and you are certainly "tagged and indexed" if you have so much as a birth certificate or have payd taxes or have received any money or benefits(eg education) from the state or have just peeked your nose out from under the rock you live at.

    5. Re:Peoplw will just line up for there bar code. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      which will essentially require a passport or federally-approved ID (no more drivers' licenses) to travel domestically by 2020

      There are only a couple of States who have license that don't qualify.
      And you actually don't even have to have an ID to fly domestically, but it can be a huge pain in the ass depending on the size of the TSA agent's hands.

    6. Re:Peoplw will just line up for there bar code. by nospam007 · · Score: 1

      "...the other is a national database of biometric data on their entire population."

      Hardly. India has over 1, 3 billion citizens, the database apparently only 1 billion.

      http://www.worldometers.info/w...

    7. Re:Peoplw will just line up for there bar code. by Bob+the+Super+Hamste · · Score: 1

      require a passport or federally-approved ID (no more drivers' licenses) to travel domestically by 2020.

      I thought it was this year unless your state got an temporary exemption/reprieve as there was a huge dust-up late last and the year beginning of this year in my state because we didn't have one and have a law that prevents us from implementing the requirements.

      --
      Time to offend someone
    8. Re:Peoplw will just line up for there bar code. by mrops · · Score: 1

      It is antsy for sure, just had a trip to India last month, a mere tourist visa for 30 days and they scanned for my finger prints.

      Here I am at immigration counter asked to scan my finger prints. I don't know what this data will be used for. I don't know how it will be protected. I don't know what will happen if I say no.

      I spent about $10k for the trip, should I say no and be returned back on next flight or just scan my finger print and hope for the best. Hell, even my 5 year old had to scan his prints, what for!

    9. Re:Peoplw will just line up for there bar code. by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 2

      >> There are only a couple of States who have license that don't qualify.

      The states affected in 2018 include 10.9% of the US population: Illinois (4.4%), Minnesota (1.8%), Missouri (2%), New Mexico (0.6%) and Washington (2.1%).

      However, in 2020 that jumps to 67.7% of the US population (56.8% more) with these states: Alaska (0.2%), Arizona (1.9%), Arkansas (1%), California (12.1%), Idaho (0.5%), Kentucky (1.4%), Louisiana (1.6%), Massachusetts (2.2%), Maine (0.4%), Michigan (3.5%), Montana (0.3%), North Carolina (2.9%), North Dakota (0.2%), New Hampshire (0.4%), New Jersey (3%), New York (6.7%), Oklahoma (1.2%), Oregon (1.2%), Pennsylvania (4.3%), Rhode Island (0.4%), South Carolina (1.4%), Texas (7.5%) and Virginia (2.5%).

      That's bigger than "a couple" my friend!

    10. Re:Peoplw will just line up for there bar code. by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 1

      >> your link [dhs.gov] does not say what you think it does.

      At that site I read that "You can continue to use your license to fly in the U.S." only applies to people whose licenses are from certain states once the years 2018 and 2020 hit. That's the focus of the graphic on the top of that page.

      Even before that, people from "bad" states like IL and others are already using their passports to get onto federal installations (e.g., military bases), so I'd imagine that passports (which many travellers already own) will become the favored domestic ID, although other federal IDs will likely be acceptable. (See "Appendix B" of: https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/isc-real-id-guide-august-2015-508_0.pdf for a list of "acceptable" IDs already being used.)

      What do you think I misinterpreted?

    11. Re:Peoplw will just line up for there bar code. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How does this compare with the USA's "Real ID" project, which will essentially require a passport or federally-approved ID (no more drivers' licenses) to travel domestically by 2020.

      vs.

      Starting October 1, 2020, every air traveler will need a REAL ID-compliant license, or another acceptable form of identification, for domestic air travel.

      If your state refuses to make a local identification REAL ID compliant, you will need some form of ID that is compliant.
      So if this act makes your driver's license invalid for interstate flights, blame your home state, because they're a bunch of flagrantly law-breaking jerks.

      Other identifying documents if you can not get a proper driver's license:

      U.S. passport
      U.S. passport card
      DHS trusted traveler cards (Global Entry, NEXUS, SENTRI, FAST)
      U.S. military ID (active duty or retired military and their dependents, and DoD civilians)
      Permanent resident card
      Border crossing card
      DHS-designated enhanced driver's license
      Airline or airport-issued ID (if issued under a TSA-approved security plan)
      Federally recognized, tribal-issued photo ID
      HSPD-12 PIV card
      Foreign government-issued passport
      Canadian provincial driver's license or Indian and Northern Affairs Canada card
      Transportation worker identification credential
      Immigration and Naturalization Service Employment Authorization Card (I-766)

  3. Already Too Late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Any chance this hasn't been breached yet?

    1. Re:Already Too Late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They better secure their database better than the US's OPM, else all those iris scans will wind up in the hands of Daesh and other people who would use that info as actionable intelligence.

      If there were a way to store irises as salted hashes, this would be ideal, but this is likely not the case.

  4. Biometrics? by wkwilley2 · · Score: 2

    Good luck changing your retinal structure when the database gets hacked.

    --
    Have you ever fallen asleep at the keybhanusdiog?
    1. Re:Biometrics? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah not, if, but when.

      I bet we'll have a torrent available inside a month.

    2. Re:Biometrics? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is an identification system, not authentication. Think of it as a substitute for your birth certificate, social security card, and drivers licence. You can use it to make transactions at various institutions, but those institutions may require a PIN or password in addition to achieve stronger authentication.

    3. Re:Biometrics? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The capillary structure in the eye does change over time so this is pretty worthless.

  5. At least you get stastical data I guess? by allaunjsilverfox2 · · Score: 1

    While this seems like a terrible idea for more than one reason, I guess a 1 billion seems like a healthy sample size to test how well these techniques actually work. In addition, you can test some theories about how random finger print whorls actually are.

    --
    Restore the madness of youth's lechery
    1. Re:At least you get stastical data I guess? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      While this seems like a terrible idea for more than one reason, I guess a 1 billion seems like a healthy sample size to test how wgo awryell these techniques actually work. In addition, you can test some theories about how random finger print whorls actually are.

      It's also a test of what the fallout looks like when this experiment go awry [and you bet your ass it will].

  6. Identity crisis by theprophetof+sarcasm · · Score: 1

    So lets just say some hacker is able to breach this system and steal all of their identities....Can we then in turn buy all of this information or the dark web? If so I am there, I'm so calling them and telling them they are late for payments.

  7. Morshu sez by Jogar+the+Barbarian · · Score: 1

    Lamp oil? Rope? Bombs? Iris scans? It's yours, my friend... as long as you've got 150 billion rupees!

    --
    3. Profit!
    2. ???
    1. On Soviet Slashdot, a Beowulf cluster of alien Natalie Portman overlords welcomes YOU!
    1. Re:Morshu sez by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's yours, my friend... as long as you've got 150 billion rupees!

      I only need $12!?

      I'll take it!

  8. Next up... by msauve · · Score: 2

    The Netherlands scans one billion tulips!

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  9. Endlessly familiar by yakumo.unr · · Score: 1

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  10. Shared misery by kheldan · · Score: 1

    Gee, I feel so much better about the direction the United States is going, knowing that 4 times as many people in India are facing the same things we are.

    ..wait, NO, I'M NOT, it's all BULLSHIT. FUCK this dystopian future we're facing! This shit has to STOP!

    MEMO TO GOVERNMENT ASSHOLES ALL OVER THE WORLD: Stop spying on us! Stop sticking your little brown noses into our lives! FUCK THE FUCK OFF!

    --
    Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
    1. Re:Shared misery by GLMDesigns · · Score: 1

      saying "brown nose" has been flagged and considered as racist.




      /sarc
      in case it wasn't obvious

      --
      If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
      Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
    2. Re:Shared misery by kheldan · · Score: 1

      /sarc

      Yeah sure but I'm going to make it clear anyway: 'brown nose' in reference to nosy government types that have their noses up everyones' ass, not 'brown' as in ethnicity.

      --
      Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
    3. Re:Shared misery by GLMDesigns · · Score: 1

      The sad thing is having to put /sarc.

      Too many of the faux outraged out there.

      -- The preceding is my opinion. Don't like it? Get your own.

      --
      If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
      Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
  11. In soviet russia by monkeyman.kix · · Score: 1

    now all your eyes belong to us.

  12. James Bond by powerpositionseo · · Score: 1

    Is this the sequel to the James Bond movie, "For Your Eyes Only".

    --
    Did he really just say that? http://ppseo.info
  13. Individuals by Thanshin · · Score: 1

    individuals considered as potential security threats

    a.k.a. the citizens

  14. Well you know by ttyX · · Score: 1

    They're just doing the needful.

  15. India SCAMS a Billion - misread headline by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    first i misread the headline as india scams a billion and then the phone rang and the guy from microsoft wanted me to start teamviewer

  16. Wrong title by gopla · · Score: 3, Informative

    It is not in interest of national security, rather in interest of preventing leakages in government subsidies. The program is voluntary, if you don't want subsidy don't enrol yourself, as simple as that.

    Second part is that the program is running since 2009 without any legal backing or any government legislation. Present government is try to regulate the database and limit the usage of the collected data to just its intended purpose.

    In spite of all safeguards, just like any other database this may also be breached but now there is a punishment in unlawful usage, which was missing till today even though data was already collected since 2009. And, really government cannot use this database for any of nefarious purpose as it just links names with fingerprints and Iris data, without any record of your caste, religion, mother tongue or even citizenship status.

    1. Re:Wrong title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am actually afraid to reply to this. Negatively.

      What if they trace my IP, raid my home, arrest me and throw away the key?

      Who places such trust in a government anymore? Especially in a government of a party with Nationalism as its declared ideology?

      With such a colourful history of more than 1000 years of having successfully allowed foreigners to rule us, I wonder why still we Indians do not bother to see what is happening to the world around us, and critically evaluate them in the historical context?

      The problem with this country is the same problem that afflicts the rest of the world: it is easier to do Bad than to do Good. Until somebody finds a way to eliminate Need, then we are left with rotten solutions that force unacceptable compromises on us. For once, India with its great wealth in the cerebral side of things, could go off the beaten track. But no, we have to ape the west. Because technology is cool, no?

    2. Re:Wrong title by gopla · · Score: 2

      What if they trace my IP, raid my home, arrest me and throw away the key?

      What has this to do with UID?. This pure paranoia. If they really wanted to do it, they can do it without this database. You know, even if you are anonymous coward, your IP can still be traced.

      It is not question of trust in government. It is voluntary, if you don't trust government, don't get your fingerprints scanned and don't get UID. No body is forcing you to get government subsidy.

      Remaining blind to some technology is not going to solve poverty. Using it for betterment of poorest of poor, by eliminating leakages might.

  17. wrong target by micahraleigh · · Score: 1

    My Indian friends tell me it's not the general population of India that is corrupt. It's their government.

    Where else can you find gang raping done by police departments?

    1. Re:wrong target by gopla · · Score: 1

      My Indian friends tell me it's not the general population of India that is corrupt. It's their government.

      It is government and few elite that are corrupt. But in India few means a lot, they control whole government machinery from top to bottom.

      With UID, targeted subsidy will reach really needy people directly eliminating many source of leakages. Things could have continued as it is, but this is an instance of government acting under pressure and responding to public aspirations for better future for their lot. UID is causing resentment among few elites who see their easy money being stopped.

      Where else can you find gang raping done by police departments?

      Everywhere, where there is no accountability and no fear of punishment. But things are changing. Such people do get punished by the same government that you think is corrupt. India is after all a democracy, and government has to be responsive to public sentiments. So rapes by police never get unpunished.

    2. Re:wrong target by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      great democratic government that is corrupt but not the people /wink

    3. Re:wrong target by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is government and few elite that are corrupt. But in India few means a lot, they control whole government machinery from top to bottom.

      I'm an Indian nearing 40 living in India. I don't know why you are defending Indian Govt employees like this. It is not the elite, but practically all public-facing employees in any kind of power positions - you wont find Post Office employees asking for bribes, but you will find every single cop, normal or traffic, asking for bribes, every single Municipal Corporation official, even "friends" / agents / touts of said Govt officials ask for bribes for doing things that are part of their job because they have local cartels and no one else can do the job. The Ministers get a percentage cut from every bribe that is paid - it is parallel taxation system running on illegal money.

      And if you point out their corruption in a naive unprepared manner, they use Police connections to frame you in false cases ranging from the colonial 353 to molestation or false rape charges by some random female history sheeter.

      It is extremely disgusting that no political party wants to even start solving the problem - it's like collectively the whole country forgot what British imperial occupation was or what Mughal occupation was.

      Corruption is the exact one problem that stops India from becoming Germany or France.

      When someone from outside India shames India for corruption, join them, for they are doing us a service, because when we Indians fight against corruption they simply ignore us. They cannot ignore white Americans saying India is corrupt because it shames their facade and egos (we still have not grown out of white admiration, so use that).

  18. Has potential of Obama admin's targeting. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    India's federal access very well could follow in the footsteps of the Obama administration in targeting its citizens/group which they disagree and India WILL suffer the same as the US. Hello tyranny and oppression, how are you today? Please wipe our bums with what's left of our liberty...

  19. Don't worry by paiute · · Score: 1

    They only want access this one time for this one investigation.

    Orwell is looking pretty prescient today: "If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever."

    --
    If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
  20. Potential Problem vs. Actual Problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hey, I get that the issues of privacy and control are there. They need to take steps on that score.

    However this is south Asia. Corruption is an ever-present and daily fact of life. Corruption is frankly a much bigger problem for Indians than government control, unless of course the Indians are on the receiving end of bribes rather than the sending end. And from what I've heard this database has done yeoman's duty in dialing down the corruption in the subsidies system.

    It's difficult for a western citizen to understand the role of corruption in life in such a place. Imagine a world where anything is for sale for the right price. There are no absolutes. Pair that with a world where the majority are still poor and cannot afford the price of corruption. Corruption is part of the system that keeps poor people poor.

    It's not bad at all if you are rich. For poor people though, corruption is part of a daily struggle to survive and not in a good way.

  21. Wasted effort by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It would seam the efforts of Gandhi were completely wasted.

  22. Way to go, India! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now provide the more than 500 million Indian citizens who lack it with running water, electricity and sewage - and maybe the rest of the world will start taking you seriously.

  23. The first step by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How about saying what it really is? The necessary step towards a developed economy with a working social security program, implemented in a cost effective way considering the challenges of lacking government infrastructure. That's one way of improving national security. When you say police state, I say well-fare state.

  24. Pedants' corner .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The /. headline for this says 'a billion irises'. The write up says '1 billion individuals' ... iris scans'. So are the people in India predominantly one eyed?

  25. A billion records equals... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... like at least ten separate MS Access 2000 database files. Which is what more than likely this data will be stored in.