Concerns related to Blackberry    

BlackBerry’s server is based in Canada where the encryption level is very high and extremely difficult to crack. Any message going through the Canadian server is encrypted and, therefore, cannot be accessed by intelligence agencies of UAE, Saudi Arabia and India.

Concerned officials in this states have argued that the continuation of BlackBerry services posed danger to the country. They pointed out that security agencies were finding it difficult to intercept or decipher messages sent through these phones, which use codes with high encryption.

How does it works

“The BlackBerry security model is very different from other phones,” said Kevin Mahaffey of Lookout mobile security firm. “It is end-to-end and the encryption is so strong nobody knows how to monitor it.”

Makers of BlackBerry, Canada based Research in Motion (RIM) uses the level of encryptions for BlackBerry email messages and routes them in a way that keeps the data off limits from even telecom firms that carry the transmissions. According to RIM they “transmit information wirelessly while also providing them with the necessary confidence that no one, including RIM, could access their data,”

RIM uses a special layer of coding to shield email as it is routed to the company’s servers and then on to intended recipients. BlackBerry also uses encrypted validation to identify handsets connecting to the network.

In normal smart phones transmits data through telecom Service providers which are generally owned by the state or the state has the authority or jurisdiction to intercept messages from there where in case of Blackberry it cannot.

Concerns are justified or not

The UAE has said that BlackBerry services including messenger, web browsing and email will be suspended because they “allow individuals to commit violations” that the country cannot monitor.

We are also aware that the intercepting messages in the State of J & K is a necessary security arrangement to thwart any security threat. We also agree that there has certain case of misuse by the State. To address the concerns of the citizens and to protect their privacy the state should enact a legislation which balances the requirement for national security and should not infringe upon the individual’s right to privacy. The procedures for intercepting messages needs to be more transparent than the existing form.  

1)      One of the crucial aspects that the bill tries to address is related to the protection of an individual’s privacy. Section 9 of the proposed bill specifies that the Authority would not require any individual to disclose information pertaining to his race, religion, caste, tribe, ethnicity, language, income or health. Which indeed reduces the apprehension of individual profiling raised by the members of the Civil Society groups.

2)      The bill establishes Central Identity Depository Receipt centralized databases in one or more location containing all Aadhar Numbers issued to Aadhar number holders along with the corresponding demographic information and biometric information of such individual. But it also specifies other information of an individual apart from biometric and demographic can also be stored at CIDR. Now about the nature of other information related the bill relatively lacks clarity.

3)      The bill prescribes stringent penalties in Chapter VII like impersonation using Aadhaar data can lead to a three-year jail term and a fine of Rs10,000. Also any unauthorized person collecting data can invite three-year jail term and a fine of Rs10,000.  Unauthorized collection or dissemination of identity information will also receive a three-year jail term and a fine of Rs10,000, in case a company commits these offences the fine will raise uptoRs1 lakh..

In case of unauthorized access to the Central Identity Depository Receipt penalty prescribed is three years of imprisonment and at least Rs 1 crore as fine.

4)      The bill establishes National Identification Authority as a statutory body having the power to draft regulations with the approval from Parliament. The Authority will comprise of a Chairperson and two part-time members to be appointed by the Central Government. It would also have a CEO (not below the rank of the Additional Secretary to the Government), who will be the member secretary of the authority. Section 28 of the bill also specifies about the three members Identity Review Committee, which will ascertain the extent and pattern of usage of Aadhar numbers across the country and prepare a report annually to be submitted to the Central Government.

5)      The bill also proposes that special measures should be adopted by the authority to issue Aadhar number to women, children, senior citizens, person with disability, migrant unskilled and unorganized workers, nomadic tribes or to such other persons who donot have permanent dwelling house.

I will be covering the recently introduced National Identification Authority Bill 2010 .This bill has been introduced to establish Unique Identity Authority as statutory body/board which at present is presided by Nandan Nilekani. They have put up draft legislation at their website while seeking suggestion from various stakeholders and general public. I have decided to pursue it as general course of discussion for this blog. Hence I welcome comments from our viewers. The blog will regularly feature posts dealing with various aspects of this bill.

Here is a brief introductory note and copy of the Bill.

The National Identification Authority of India Bill 2010

The Project Aadhar which has been earlier known as Unique ID Project (UID) project has been established by the Government of India under the leadership of Mr Nandan Nilekani and a body known as UID Authority of India (UIDAI) was formed. The UID project envisages creation of a Unique Identification Number for every resident of India.  Once the project is rolled out, each individual will have one unique identification number that will identify him/her. This will not just help the government track down individuals as is highlighted by the media, but will make life far easier for citizens as they will not have to submit so many documents each time they want to avail a new service private or government.

For the first time India is opting the Universal Identifier for an efficacious allocation of resources and UID project is its primary example. The objective behind this discussion is to analyze the draft legislation which establishes National Identification Authority as a statutory body while preparing the normative guidelines for assigning unique identity numbers to each individuals. The NIA or National Identification Authority will be an independent agency which will not only monitor the working of the project but will also enact policies which will influence the objective behind the functions of Unique Identity Numbers. The legislation tries to address key concerns regarding privacy, Institutional aauthority and legitimacy as these issues were presumed to undermine the achievements through this project. This discussion is an attempt to verify any such claims of addressing key issues before this draft legislation is ordained as law by the legislature.     

Project Aadhar has been an initiative through which every individual who applies to avail the services will be assigned a unique number for guarantying a distinct identity to each individual. The approach of identifying each individual remains a crucial aspect to be further analyzed through this discussion. While adopting Universal Identifier as the backbone for today’s technologically driven governance, the state should be in a position to counter the risk associated with this approach.  With a common identifier having all the necessary information, the state bears the responsibility to protect those information’s. Certain fundamental values like Individual’s privacy, liberty etc seeks to verify the integrity of this approach on various occasions. The state’s approach should not nullify the purpose or objective behind the adoption of this concept to be implemented through Aadhar Project

An MVNO is a telco that doesn’t have its own licensed spectrum or infrastructure, but provides mobile phone services by buying wholesale airtime from existing operators and selling them to end-user .

The recommendations begin with the Authority claiming the scarcity of spectrum required to be used for the next four years. The authority suggests that the spectrum be refarmed and the Government should draw a spectrum management plan while reviewing the usage of existing spectrum allocated. The authority proposes to undertake spectrum audit on a regular basis to oversee efficient utilization of spectrum by the service providers.

 Next the TRAI recommended the capping of the amount of spectrum up to 6.2 MHz for GSM and 5 MHz for CDMA. For any additional spectrum the service providers have to pay an additional amount equivalent to the current price of 3 G determined through auction. TRAI justified this measure by stating that the existing players have enjoyed benefit of excess spectrum for 10 years. Now they have to pay or return spectrum.

 On infrastructure front TRAI recommended that the Telephone Tower companies which currently have IP I (Infrastructure Provider) registration to be brought within the preview of license. At present these companies which are often part of big telecom companies are under obligation to register only. Apart from the proposed IP I license holders even ISP holders who at present are charged license fee of only Rs 1 should be charged license fee according to the Authority at the rate 4% for 2010-2011 & at 6 % in the year 2012—2013. The authority also proposed to have uniform license fee and urged the Government to delink license with the spectrum.

The Authority in its recommendations also stressed the importance of rural telecommunications while assigning obligation on service providers to reach out rural areas in the form of roll-out obligations. Any failure on the part of the service provider to full fill these obligations would entail penalty in the form of additional spectrum usage charges. Authorities concerns regarding the reach of telecommunications in rural areas seem to be genuine as the authority further stipulated a condition in its recommendations. The authority has made the assignment of additional spectrum depended on the fulfilment of roll-out obligations by the service providers. Assignment is subject to the condition that the service provider will complete the roll-out obligations for 2 years, within a period of six months from the date of assignment of additional spectrum. The authority maintained the present license renewal mechanism with the only change it proposed is in the form renewal license fee which is equivalent to the entry fee.

Regarding Mergers and Acquisitions the authority prescribed that minimum 6 service providers are required even after M& A activities. It further laid few guidelines like the resultant company after M&A shall not have 30% of the entire subscriber base of the licensed area. It further suggested that the resultant company shall not hold more than 14.4 MHz/10 MHz (GSM/CDMA). The companies can use only one tranche of spectrum and for addition spectrum t has to pay. The authority allowed spectrum sharing as long as both of the companies does not hold more than 4.4 MHZ/2.5 MHz (GSM/CDMA). Though spectrum trading has been referred but authority’s position is not provide specifically.

The authority has prescribed a specific manner for allocating additional spectrum.

 a) First to the operators who have the startup 4.4 MHz and are eligible for 6.2 MHz

b) Then to the operators who have 6.2 MHz and need additional spectrum

 c) Last in the queue are the operators who don’t have 4.4 MHz startup spectrum also.

The authorities have also suggested to impose higher spectrum usage fee from the operator having additional spectrum. These are the basic features of the TRAI recommendations on spectrum management.

Few companies like Reliance have gained while for companies Bharti (Airtel) it has been a loss. But these recommendations have created a distinct path for developing plan on spectrum management a crucial part which the Government has to cover post 3 G auction. Now it depends on DoT and the government either to accept or to reject these recommendations. As per the TRAI act these recommendation are not binding in nature, though they have to be given due weight age by DoT.

 Here are certain responses from various Industry observers.

TRAI’s recos to discourage new operators.. click here

R-Comm Favours TRAI’s views on spectrum allocation.. click here

UIDAI has created an internship programe which welcomes students from diverse background like Economics/Finance/Public administration/Social Sciences/ Law etc. For more details click here .

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has been created as an attached office under the Planning Commission. Its role is to develop and implement the necessary institutional, technical and legal infrastructure to issue unique identity numbers to Indian residents. 

On June 25th 2009, the Cabinet also created and approved the position of the Chairperson of the UIDAI, and appointed Mr. Nandan Nilekani as the first Chairperson in the rank and status of a Cabinet Minister.

I am sure interningwith UIDAI will be a great experience..