India To Put All Citizen Info In a Central Database 132
Oracle Goddess writes "As part of a project to issue ID cards for all 1.1 billion of its citizens, India has announced plans to place information on every single citizen in what will be the world's second largest citizens' database. The government believes the scheme will aid the delivery of vital social services to the poorest people who often lack sufficient identification papers. It also sees the scheme as a way to tackle increasing amounts of identity fraud and theft, and, at a time of increased concern over the threat of militant violence, to boost national security and help police and law officials. 'This could be used as a security measure by the government which leaves migrant workers, refugees and other stateless people in India in limbo, without access to public services, employment and basic welfare,' said Charu Lata Hogg, an associate fellow of the Asia program at Chatham House."
It's not all bad! (Score:3, Informative)
India currently has no real way of identifying a person uniquely - other than a passport. Most formal government identification systems are uncontrolled and easily available in exchange for money. So we dont really have a credit system, no social security number etc. One recent change was PAN cards - a tax identification number.
So this could will help a lot in uniquely identifying a person - especially in a country where there are 28 languages, and where migration of labor has started increasing substantially.
This is also being led by Nandan Nilekini of Infosys fame.
[An estimated 100M id cards will be rolled out in 3 years]
Re:Better than Google (Score:3, Informative)
Not all of the west has big qualms about the governments keeping track of people. In Germany, where I have lived for a few years now, everyone has to register their addresses to a central agency, you are obliged to carry a valid id with you at all times, etc. And I don't think there is a big outcry about it among Germans. In fact everyone I have tried to convince that it should not be a requirement and you should be allowed to live off the grid in exchange of foregoing some benefits that such laws create, I either get counter-arguments or just a shoulder-shrugging. The point being that different groups of people have different understanding of words like privacy, freedom, limits of government, etc.
Re:It isn't as bad as it sounds (Score:5, Informative)
India will always be referred to as being a Third world nation. This is because Third world [wikipedia.org] does not mean what you think it means.
Re:It isn't as bad as it sounds (Score:3, Informative)
I think Wal-Mart have a pretty big database about most citizens in the US. I remember reading they're not even the biggest. The credit reference agencies probably have data on most citizens in the western world.
Most governments have databases about their citizens.. Where do you think social security numbers come from?
Re:It isn't as bad as it sounds (Score:1, Informative)