The new draft legislation of the UIDAI proposes to protect individual privacy and also has strict punishments in case of impersonation and privacy breaches with fines of up to Rs1 crore

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which is all set for a pilot rollout of its ambitious unique ID (UID) project, Aadhaar, has come up with a draft legislation to ensure data security and confidentiality of information.

The authority has placed the draft of the 'National Identification Authority of India Bill 2010' on its website www.uidai.gov.in for public comments and suggestions. The new legislation proposes to protect individual privacy and has strict punishment in case of impersonation and privacy breaches with fines of up to Rs1 crore. The draft legislation which proposes to make UIDAI a statutory body also has provisions for strict penalty for offences like disclosing identity information, impersonation, giving wrong biometrics and unauthorised access to data.

The government has constituted a group of its officers under the chairmanship of the secretary, Department of Personnel and Training, to develop a framework that could address the country’s interests and concerns on privacy, data protection and security. However, according to a government release, if one wants to send a suggestion or comment on these issues by email, then it will have to be sent to a personal email ID of the officer.(read more http://www.moneylife.in/article/8/6598.html).

According to media reports, the government has decided to move on the privacy law in the context of Aadhaar and the National Intelligence Grid (Natgrid), which will assist investigators in obtaining information tracked by law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The agencies will have access to details of phone calls, credit card transactions, visa and immigration records, property records and driving licences of all citizens, the report said.

The UIDAI has selected Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) to redesign its website. The Authority is also seeking specific inputs and shared experiences from the public to make its website Right to Information (RTI) compliant. In the initial stages, besides English, there will also be a Hindi version of the website with other language versions coming out later.

The UIDAI has also created a separate space for Civil Society Outreach (CSO) interactions and has posted detailed notes from all the past CSO meetings. The Authority intends to update these notes with action-taken reports over the next few weeks.