Seeking to build an identification system of unprecedented scope, India is scanning the fingerprints, eyes and faces of its 1.3 billion residents and connecting the data to everything from welfare benefits to mobile phones.

Civil libertarians are horrified, viewing the program, called Aadhaar, as Orwell’s Big Brother brought to life.

The government has made registration mandatory for hundreds of public services and many private ones, from taking school exams to opening bank accounts.

The potential uses — from surveillance to managing government benefit programs — have drawn interest elsewhere. Sri Lanka is planning a similar system, and Britain, Russia and the Philippines are studying it, according to the Indian government.

The poor must scan their fingerprints at the ration shop to get their government allocations of rice. Retirees must do the same to get their pensions. Middle-school students cannot enter the water department’s annual painting contest until they submit their identification.

In some cities, newborns cannot leave the hospital until their parents sign them up. Even leprosy patients, whose illness damages their fingers and eyes, have been told they must pass fingerprint or iris scans to get their benefits.

The government argues that the universal ID is vital in a country where hundreds of millions of people do not have widely accepted identification documents.

Before Aadhaar, hundreds of millions of Indians could not easily prove who they were.

“If you are not able to prove your identity, you are disenfranchised,” .... “You have no existence.”
http://www.paywallnews.com/tech/‘Big-Bro...apUsG.html

A forerunner of RFID chips to come?
I'm thinking there's a likelihood.

RFID chips seem to be causing cancer in pets.

^ this ^ Correct Richie https://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/10...ncer_link/

(04-08-2018, 08:46 AM)JayRodney Wrote:  A forerunner of RFID chips to come?  
I'm thinking there's a likelihood.

Exactly what I was gonna say.

In Finland you haven't been able to receive any benefits or govt services without identifying yourself with your social security number for decades. Nowadays when most services are accessible online you still need to identify yourself (not biometrically):

https://esuomi.fi/suomi-fi-services/suom...n/?lang=en

Of course this can't be applied to India where things are more than messed up in many parts of the country, high rates of illiteracy, no access to internet or even electricity.

Maybe they should start with a program similar to what Finland started 80 years ago and is today more popular than ever:

Quote:For [80] years, Finland's expectant mothers have been given a box by the state. It's like a starter kit of clothes, sheets and toys that can even be used as a bed. And some say it helped Finland achieve one of the world's lowest infant mortality rates.

It's a tradition that dates back to the 1930s and it's designed to give all children in Finland, no matter what background they're from, an equal start in life.

The maternity package - a gift from the government - is available to all expectant mothers.

"Not only was it offered to all mothers-to-be but new legislation meant in order to get the grant, or maternity box, they had to visit a doctor or municipal pre-natal clinic before their fourth month of pregnancy," says Heidi Liesivesi, who works at Kela - the Social Insurance Institution of Finland.

So the box provided mothers with what they needed to look after their baby, but it also helped steer pregnant women into the arms of the doctors and nurses of Finland's nascent welfare state.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22751415

You gotta start somewhere

(04-08-2018, 03:08 PM)Kreeper Wrote:  

(04-08-2018, 08:46 AM)JayRodney Wrote:  A forerunner of RFID chips to come?  
I'm thinking there's a likelihood.

Exactly what I was gonna say.

Great minds and all.

(04-08-2018, 03:27 PM)Octo Wrote:  In Finland you haven't been able to receive any benefits or govt services without identifying yourself with your social security number for decades. Nowadays when most services are accessible online you still need to identify yourself (not biometrically):

https://esuomi.fi/suomi-fi-services/suom...n/?lang=en

Of course this can't be applied to India where things are more than messed up in many parts of the country, high rates of illiteracy, no access to internet or even electricity.

Maybe they should start with a program similar to what Finland started 80 years ago and is today more popular than ever:

Quote:For [80] years, Finland's expectant mothers have been given a box by the state. It's like a starter kit of clothes, sheets and toys that can even be used as a bed. And some say it helped Finland achieve one of the world's lowest infant mortality rates.

It's a tradition that dates back to the 1930s and it's designed to give all children in Finland, no matter what background they're from, an equal start in life.

The maternity package - a gift from the government - is available to all expectant mothers.

"Not only was it offered to all mothers-to-be but new legislation meant in order to get the grant, or maternity box, they had to visit a doctor or municipal pre-natal clinic before their fourth month of pregnancy," says Heidi Liesivesi, who works at Kela - the Social Insurance Institution of Finland.

So the box provided mothers with what they needed to look after their baby, but it also helped steer pregnant women into the arms of the doctors and nurses of Finland's nascent welfare state.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22751415

You gotta start somewhere

That all makes India the perfect testing ground.