{"id":188,"date":"2016-10-22T10:37:04","date_gmt":"2016-10-22T05:07:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.itforchange.net\/mavc\/?page_id=188"},"modified":"2016-11-08T19:15:39","modified_gmt":"2016-11-08T13:45:39","slug":"resources","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/projects.itforchange.net\/mavc\/democratic-accountability-in-the-digital-age\/resources\/","title":{"rendered":"Resources"},"content":{"rendered":"

We include here a a list of curated readings and materials covering a broad range of themes that will be discussed in the workshop.<\/p>\n

Background References<\/b><\/p>\n

(a) Exclusions in the transition to Aadhaar-enabled service delivery systems<\/a><\/p>\n

(b) Limitations of biometric authentication and the need for alternatives<\/a><\/p>\n

(c) Aadhaar and the creation of a new centralized service delivery model<\/a><\/p>\n

(d) Violations of democratic accountability in the Aadhaar project<\/a><\/p>\n

(e) Trends in the use of Big Data in governance: India and abroad<\/a><\/p>\n

(f) Meaningful participation in digital democracy<\/a><\/p>\n

(g) Involvement of private actors in digitalized governance systems in India<\/a><\/p>\n

(h) Issues\/concerns for the governance of data-in-governance<\/a><\/p>\n

(a) Exclusions in the transition to Aadhaar-<\/i>enabled service delivery systems<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2013 How poor and marginalized groups fall out of the welfare net in the switch to Aadhaar-enabled service delivery. See Medianama (2016), Aadhaar disruption in Rajasthan: Not in a good way, http:\/\/www.medianama.com\/2016\/08\/223-aadhaar-rajasthan-scroll\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2013 Errors in biometric authentication lead to food rations being denied. See Scroll (2016), In Rajasthan, there is \u2018unrest at the Aadhaar<\/i> shop\u2019 because of error-ridden Aadhaar,<\/i> http:\/\/scroll.in\/article\/805909\/in-rajasthan-there-is-unrest-at-the-ration-shop-because-of-error-ridden-aadhaar<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2013 Claims of efficiency and effectiveness in Aadhaar<\/i>-enabled service delivery are not being borne out. See Khera (2016), On Aadhaar<\/i> success, it\u2019s all hype \u2013 that includes the World Bank, http:\/\/www.ndtv.com\/opinion\/yes-aadhaar-is-a-game-changer-in-wrecking-welfare-schemes-1434424<\/a><\/p>\n

(b) <\/b>Limitations of biometric authentication and the need for alternatives<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2013 The accuracy of biometric identification depends on the chance of a false positive: the probability that the identifiers of two persons will match. Individuals whose identifiers match might be termed duplicands. When very many people are to be identified success can be measured by the (low) proportion of duplicands. The Government of India is engaged upon biometrically identifying the entire population of India (through Aadhaar). An experiment performed at an early stage of the programme has allowed us to estimate the chance of a false positive: and from that to estimate the proportion of duplicands. For the current population of 1.2 billion the expected proportion of duplicands is 1\/121, a ratio which is far too high. See Verghese Mathews (2016), Flaws in the UIDAI Process, http:\/\/www.epw.in\/journal\/2016\/9\/special-articles\/flaws-uidai-process.html<\/a> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013 Smart Cards may be more reliable than biometric authentication but this is not being considered. See eGOV (2016), Government restricts smart cards: promotes Aadhaar<\/i>, http:\/\/egov.eletsonline.com\/2016\/04\/govt-restricts-smart-cards-promotes-aadhaar\/<\/a><\/p>\n

(c) Aadhaar<\/i> and the creation of a new centralized service delivery model<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2013 In May 2016, following the enactment of the Aadhaar Act, the Secretary of the Department of Electronics and Information Technology announced a plan to create a convergent database of beneficiaries for Aadhaar-enabled service delivery, positioning this as the foundation for an efficient welfare regime in the country1. The Secretary also shared that the government is contemplating the handing over of powers of updation of this database to CEOs of janpad (block level administration) in rural areas, and to the Chief Municipal Officer in urban areas. This arrangement may not guarantee the decentralisation of discretion necessary at the last mile for responsive action on beneficiary identification and selection. See GovernanceNow(2016), Using data to improve social welfare schemes, http:\/\/www.governancenow.com\/gov-next\/egov\/using-data-improve-social-welfare-schemes<\/a><\/p>\n

(d) Violations of democratic accountability in the Aadhaar<\/i> project<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2013 The passage of the Aadhaar<\/i> Bill was nothing but a travesty of democracy. Even basic parliamentary procedures were disregarded completely. The passage of the Bill also constituted the subversion of an ongoing judicial process. Secondly, the Bill has a number of provisions that put to risk, and offer no protection to, a number of constitutional rights and liberties of citizens. Thirdly, the financial savings that the government has claimed from the usage of Aadhaar<\/i>, based on which the idea has been sold, are based on wrong data. See Ramakumar (2016), Freedom in peril, http:\/\/www.frontline.in\/cover-story\/freedom-in-peril\/article8408760.ece<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2013 The power to declare which services require the Aadhaar number for authentication is too awesome a power to be handed over to the central government in the form of a blank cheque; the parliament should require that all subsidies and services be approved by it before the legislation is enacted. See Thikkavarapu (2016), The Aadhaar Bill is yet another legislation that leaves too much power with government at the centre,http:\/\/www.caravanmagazine.in\/vantage\/aadhaar-bill-another-legistlation-leaves-power-centre<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2013 Aadhaar<\/i> makes citizen-profiling all the more easier. See Ramanathan (2016), Aadhaar<\/i> is like drone warfare versus hand to hand combat, profiling becomes all that more easier, http:\/\/www.business-standard.com\/article\/economy-policy\/aadhaar-is-like-drone-warfare-versus-hand-to-hand-combat-profiling-becomes-all-that-more-eaiser-usha-ramanathan-116033101394_1.html<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2013 The Aadhaar Act makes no mention of \u201cprivacy\u201d and only refers to \u201cconfidentiality\u201d in its provisions2. In specific, it restricts access to the identity information and authentication records stored on the UIDAI database, in order to protect the security and confidentiality of individuals. However, thanks to two broad exceptions to this restriction, the provision is significantly diluted:<\/p>\n

(a) Exception 1: District judges can pass orders that authorize state agencies\u2019 access to Aadhaar data without any disclosure or discussion with the citizen affected, and without any avenue for appeal.<\/p>\n

(b) Exception 2: In the interest of \u2018national security\u2019, any Joint Secretary authorised by the government can direct disclosure of information. See Arun (2016), Privacy is a fundamental right,<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/lead\/lead-article-on-aadhaar-bill-by-chinmayi-arun-privacy-is-a-fundamental-right\/article8366413.ece<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2013 Aadhaar<\/i> creates a financial architecture that is completely unauditable. See Saraph (2015), Banking on Aadhaar, What concerns the RBI, http:\/\/www.moneylife.in\/article\/banking-on-aadhaar-what-concerns-the-rbi\/43569.html<\/a><\/p>\n

(e) <\/b>Trends in the use of Big Data in governance: <\/b>India and abroad<\/b><\/p>\n

I<\/b>n India: <\/b><\/p>\n

CIS (2016), Big data in Indian governance: Preliminary findings, http:\/\/slides.com\/cisindia\/big-data-in-indian-governance-preliminary-findings-6#\/1<\/a><\/p>\n

Economic Times (2014), PMO using Big Data techniques on myGOV.in, http:\/\/articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com\/2014-11-26\/news\/56490626_1_mygov-digital-india-modi-government<\/a><\/p>\n

Trends abroad:<\/b><\/p>\n

BBC (2015), China\u2019s social credit: Beijing sets up huge system, http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-asia-china-34592186<\/a><\/p>\n

Economist (2014), Parole and technology: Prison breakthrough, http:\/\/www.economist.com\/news\/united-states\/21601009-big-data-can-help-states-decide-whom-release-prison-prison-breakthrough<\/a><\/p>\n

(f) Meaningful participation in digital democracy<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2013 Exploring public Wi-fi as a viable route for enhancing affordable access to the Internet. See TRAI, Consultation Paper on Proliferation of Broadband through Public Wi-Fi Networks, http:\/\/www.trai.gov.in\/Content\/ConDis\/20782_11.aspx<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\u2013Ensuring that freedom of expression in online spaces is not curbed. See P. Visvaksen, UN Condemns Disruption of Intternet Access , <\/span><\/span>http:\/\/www.thehindubusinessline.com\/specials\/technophile\/un-condemns-disruptions-of-internet-access\/article8816248.ece<\/a> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013 Access enables meaningful participation only when there are use-cultures that expand informational, associational and communicative choices. So to ensure meaningful online participation, just providing connectivity may not be enough. See Gurumurthy, A. and Chami, N. (2015), The Internet as a game changer for India\u2019s marginalised women, <\/span>http:\/\/webfoundation.org\/2015\/10\/india-womens-rights-online\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2013 Why net neutrality legislation needs to be understood as a political idea and not a limited technical principle of maintaining a level playing field, if we are to democratize online participation. See Parminder Jeet Singh <\/span><\/span><\/span>(2015)<\/span><\/span><\/span>, Net Neutrality is Basically Internet Egalitarianism, <\/span><\/span><\/span>http:\/\/www.itforchange.net\/net_neutrality_is_basically_internet_egalitarianism<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

(g) Involvement of private actors in digitalized governance systems in India<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2013 Corporatization of service delivery in the Common Service Centres scheme. See Salman (2016), Kerala\u2019s e-gov centres might sell products from Jios and other companies<\/span>, <\/span><\/span><\/span>http:\/\/www.medianama.com\/2016\/10\/223-keralas-e-gov-centers-might-distribute-products-jio-take\/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+medianama+(Medianama%3A+Digital+Media+In+India<\/a>) <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013 Common Service Centres tend to cater only to middle class groups and not to poor and marginalized individuals, as their primary motive is profitability. See Kuriyan and Ray (2007), Public-Private Partnerships and Information Technologies for Development in India<\/span>, <\/span><\/span><\/span>http:\/\/tier.cs.berkeley.edu\/docs\/Renee-ppp-ictd2007.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2013How the Smart Cities Mission leads to a new privatized model of urban governance in the country. See Sampath (2016), Fooled by smartness,<\/span> http:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/lead\/fooled-by-smartness\/article8907618.ece<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2013 Opening up urban governance as a new market for data companies. See Sundar (2016), Are Smart Cities a Smart Idea? https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/pulse\/smart-cities-idea-swapna-sundar<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2013 Aadhaar-based open Application Programming Interfaces as a new business opportunity for companies interested in creating data-based solutions in health, education, financial services etc. Livemint (2016), Aadhaar 2.0: Creating India\u2019s digital infrastructure, http:\/\/www.livemint.com\/Politics\/afjuy0dHgS4beFggSTVddP\/Aadhaar-20-Creating-Indias-digital-infrastructure.html<\/a><\/p>\n

(h<\/b>) <\/b>Issues\/concerns for the governance of data-in-governance<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2013 Identifying design principles that ensure cradle-to-grave secure management of information in the design of data systems. For example: \u201c…large data systems should store data in a distributed manner, separated by type (e.g. financial vs. health) and real-world categories (e.g. individual vs. corporate), managed by a department whose function is focused on those data, and with sharing permissions set and monitored by personnel from that department. Best practice would have the custodians of data be regional and use heterogeneous computer systems. With such safeguards in place, it is more difficult to combine data types without authentic authorization. Similarly, data sharing should always maintain provenance and permissions associated with data…Best practice would share only answers to questions about the data (e.g. by use of preprogrammed SQL queries known as Database Views ) rather than the data themselves, whenever possible.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

See World Economic Forum (2016), Rewards and Risks of Big Data, http:\/\/www3.weforum.org\/docs\/WEF_GlobalInformationTechnology_Report_2014.pdf<\/a> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/cite><\/em><\/p>\n

\u2013 Robust legislation for privacy and data protection. See the report of the Justice A.P. Shah Committee (2012) at <\/span><\/cite>Robust legislation for <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/cite>privacy and data protection. See the <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/cite>report of <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/cite>the Justice A.P. Shah Committee (2012) at <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/cite>http:\/\/planningcommission.nic.in\/reports\/genrep\/rep_privacy.pdf<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/cite><\/p>\n

\u2013<\/span><\/cite>Evolving an institutional framework that recognises the need to socialise data as an anonymised big data commons, with adequate room for context-specific, political decisions about what should remain at the level of the \u2018private\u2019 and what should be \u2018public\u2019. One way to do this is illustrated in the publication \u2018Big Data in Our Hands\u2019 produced by the P2P foundation, which recommends that:<\/p>\n

– At the individual level: users no longer readily surrender data
\n– At the regulatory level: the monopolisation of data can be challenged.
\n– At the social level: people are able to participate (a) in an existential part of the environment [i.e. creating and sharing data], (b) in political processes (decision making on rules, distribution, etc.), and (c) in economic processes (in which \u201cmy\u201d data becomes a potential economic resource which I am able to exploit myself, or I can have it exploited by third parties).<\/p>\n

See more details at <\/cite>https:\/\/wiki.p2pfoundation.net\/Big_Data_In_Our_Hands<\/a><\/cite><\/p>\n

\u2013 Introducing clear protocols for Big-data based decision-making within governance systems. We can take a leaf out of EU\u2019s General Data Protection Regulation slated to take effect in 2018, which gives all EU citizens the right to ask for an explanation of algorithmic decisions that were made about them; and disallows the automated processing of personal data for the purpose of personal profiling. Some readings on this: https:\/\/securityintelligence.com\/getting-ready-for-the-european-unions-general-data-protection-regulation-learn-think-and-prepare\/<\/a><\/p>\n

EU citizens might get a ‘right to explanation’ about the decisions algorithms make<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n