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December 7, 2013 06:36 am GMT

Inside Indias Aadhar, The Worlds Biggest Biometrics Database

Aadhar 1  India’s Unique Citizen Identification project, also known as Aadhar, earlier this week finished capturing demographic and biometric data of about half a billion citizens–the largest biometric project of its kind currently in the world. It’s been a multi-year effort not without its critics among privacy and security advocates and others. The latest development this week concerned the method that Aadhar is using to capture, store and manage the data, and the role a startup from the U.S. called MongoDB may be playing in it. MongoDB, a NoSQL database startup, last yearraised funding from the CIA-backed In-Q-Tel, an independent non-profit venture backed by the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies. During past few days, several reports in the Indian mediahave quoted political parties and activists, raising questions about whether sensitive citizen data is being compromised by Aadhar, headed by the Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani. Some of the reports have linked the controversy with MongoDB. Governments across the world are raising concerns over spying by the National Security Agency, and anything even remotely associated with U.S. government intelligence agencies is enough to cause uproar. Moreover, with general elections set to be held next hear, political rhetoric is at an all time high in India. I took a tour of Aadhar’s offices in Bangalore, and the truth of the matter, according to officials I spoke to, is that while some have alleged large contracts that include sharing data with MongoDB, the reality is that Aadhar is using MongoDB open source code that doesn’t touch sensitive data. The meeting also offered an opportunity to understand how the biggest biometrics database on earth is functioning, and dealing with concerns of security and privacy. Moreover, in a statement issued on Friday, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), denied having any formal contract with MongoDB and refuted allegations of sharing citizen data with any U.S. agencies. What Aadhar means for India To set the context right here about Aadhar, and what it means for a country like India, more than half a billion people have no official ID of any kind, which makes it impossible for them to receive government aids, open a bank account, get a loan, get a driving license, and so on. The citizen database project, which is now enrolling over one million Indians a day, is scheduled to sign up about 1.2 billion people by the end of next year, making

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