Stamp of a scam
Saurabh Shukla
February 22, 2008
It was dubbed a dream project for easing the passport woes of millions across the country. The aim was to end the long queues for securing a passport and introduce some biometric features to enhance security, but on the contrary the Passport Seva project, as it is called, runs the risk of compromising individual security and endangers national security as well.
It raises fears of your personal details getting leaked or a terrorist getting hold of your identity from an old passport. With a private vendor developing a highsecurity passport software, this is the big question as the Government moves forward on the mega project which will outsource passport operations to a private vendor.
“The whole project seems untenable. While we should look for ways to streamline the passport issuance system, the security of the process should not be compromised,” says an MEA official.
Even though several leading IT firms have submitted bids for the project, their opening has been postponed. While officials attribute the postponement to “technical issues”, speculation is rife that the move is intended to benefit a particular bidder.
The Cabinet had okayed the project last year but it’s the fineprint which has raised doubts. According to the Cabinet note and the request for proposal, the project will lead to “outsourcing of front-end activities, not involving the sovereign functions of the Government.
Under the new system, applications will be collected at 68 private passport centres. While the existing passport offices will facilitate back-end operations, all front-end operations that include capturing biometric features, verifying the authenticity of the application, and granting the passport will be handled by the private vendor, according to the request for proposals (RFP) circulated by the MEA.
Sources say this would give the vendor enough scope to influence the passport issuing process. Once these proposals are implemented, passport applicants would need to shell out Rs 300-400 extra besides the usual fees for getting their passport applications processed.
With around 40 million Indian passport holders in the country, the earning for the bidder from various services— including renewal, additional booklets, renting out space at passport offices etc—is expected to be to the tune of several thousand crores.
Questions are also being raised, as under the proposal certain government officials will be posted for carrying out the index and blacklist checks at the passport centres which can compromise the process.
Besides the key to the secret database of passport holders will have to be shared with the private vendor. Insiders say objections have also been raised by the Ministry of Information Technology whose affiliated body National Informatics Centre (NIC) currently manages the passport issuance system and manages PISON (passport information service system on the net).
Sources in security agencies say checking indexes and blacklists is a secret exercise performed by government officials which requires certain expertise and subjective decisions in case of security alerts. Moreover, it is performed in a secured location and if left at the facilitation centre, it can be compromised due to its proximity to the applicants.
What is equally intriguing is that there is a great deal of secrecy around the project which is being directly monitored by a key aide of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
“We have just been told that the project needs to be pushed at all costs, although there are doubts about its workability,” remarked a passport official. Insiders say that both the junior ministers, Anand Sharma and E. Ahamed, who also happen to overlook the passport division, have been kept out of the loop. The silence maintained by the ministry was also intriguing.
However, Sharad Sabharwal, additional secretary in the MEA, allays fears of misuse of data and says, “All sensitive aspects of passport issuance, including verification of documents, check-lists and final grant order will remain with the government officials. The aim is to issue a passport within three days”.
Diplomatic sources say globally such exercise is not conducted in the manner proposed in the consultant’s report that was commissioned by the foreign office, and in most of the western nations passport issuance system stays with government agencies.
The fact that the passport database will be shared with private vendors has also been objected to by security agencies who had voiced concern at an inter-ministerial meeting held in Hyderabad last year to discuss the new passport project.
Another big loophole in the proposal seems to be development of a new software which would mean that the private software developer, that includes some foreign companies as well will have access to the entire database and the key to the new Indian passport system, which may be subjected to a breach.
Also under the Passports Act, passed by Parliament, accountability is fixed with MEA officials who normally handle passport work.
But under the fresh proposal, it is not clear as to who will take the blame, in case the private vendor makes a mistake.
“There has to be a system of checks and balances, and accountability needs to be fixed. While public convenience is important, it should not be at the cost of national security,” feels former foreign secretary Shashank, who has also served as a chief passport officer.
Interestingly, in 1985, when a proposal was made to switch the passport issuance system from the Ministry of External Affairs to the Ministry of Home Affairs, it was promptly shot down by the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, and now it seems the UPA Government wants to move away from it.
Passport to disaster
With a private company developing the new passport software, personal details of passport holders and applicants could get leaked.
There are already teething troubles as opening of technical bids has been postponed twice without any reasons being assigned.
Objections were raised on the project by security agencies and passport officers at an inter-ministerial meet held in Hyderabad last year.
The project is being pushed in a haste and MEA’s two junior ministers, E. Ahamed and Anand Sharma, are out of the loop.
The new system doesn’t fix accountability for any mistake by the private vendor. Under the Passport Act, it is the government officials who are held responsible.
When the Government already has a secure system designed by its agency, the easiest thing would have been to upgrade the software than do it afresh.
And if the real objective was to ensure convenience of passport seekers, more application centres could have been opened to reduce the delay. Currently, there are 33 regional passport offices, besides 15 collection centres that are manned by the police and the district administrations.
Officials say NIC has built a lot of services both at the regional passport offices and at the central locations, and the big challenge will also be their compatibility with the proposed new software. Also, it is not clear as to who will be responsible for generation of objection letters, granting of passports, printing and lamination besides the dispatch of the passport document.
While the Government is planning to pay productivity-linked incentives not exceeding 1.46 per cent of the revenue generated to the Central Passport Organisation employees as a sop, this may open a Pandora’s box, with other government departments also pitching for such an incentive.
While the jury may be out on why the Government is keen on pushing forward a major project in the last year of its term, without assessing its impact on the passport issuance system, for now it is a big mess
Courtesy - India Today
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
Express ur Grievance through this site
Can you imagine this happening in INDIA?
Government of India has an online Grievance forum at
http://darpg-grievance.nic.in/
The government wants people to use this tool to highlight the problems
they faced while dealing with Government officials or departments like
Passport Office, Electricity board, BSNL/MTNL, Railways etc etc.
I know many people will say that these things don't work in India, but
this actually works as one of our colleague in CSC found. The guy I'm
talking about lives in Faridabad. Couple of months back, the Faridabad
Municipal Corporation laid new roads in his area and the residents were
very happy about it. But 2 weeks later, BSNL dugged up the newly laid
roads to install new cables which annoyed all the residents including this
guy. But it was only this guy! Who used the above listed grievance forum
to highlight his concern. And to his surprise, BSNL and Municipal
Corporation of faridabad was served a show cause notice and the guy
received a copy of the notice in one week. Government has asked the MC and
BSNL about the goof up as it's clear that both the government departments
were not in sync at all.
So use this grievance forum and educate others who don't know about this
facility. You can go to website.
This way we can at least raise our concerns instead of just talking about
the ' System' in India. Invite your friends to contribute for many such
happenings.
Government of India has an online Grievance forum at
http://darpg-grievance.nic.in/
The government wants people to use this tool to highlight the problems
they faced while dealing with Government officials or departments like
Passport Office, Electricity board, BSNL/MTNL, Railways etc etc.
I know many people will say that these things don't work in India, but
this actually works as one of our colleague in CSC found. The guy I'm
talking about lives in Faridabad. Couple of months back, the Faridabad
Municipal Corporation laid new roads in his area and the residents were
very happy about it. But 2 weeks later, BSNL dugged up the newly laid
roads to install new cables which annoyed all the residents including this
guy. But it was only this guy! Who used the above listed grievance forum
to highlight his concern. And to his surprise, BSNL and Municipal
Corporation of faridabad was served a show cause notice and the guy
received a copy of the notice in one week. Government has asked the MC and
BSNL about the goof up as it's clear that both the government departments
were not in sync at all.
So use this grievance forum and educate others who don't know about this
facility. You can go to website.
This way we can at least raise our concerns instead of just talking about
the ' System' in India. Invite your friends to contribute for many such
happenings.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Information Technology
Information Technology
United States: Perspective: Can Social Networking Co-Exist With The Workplace?
With Facebook and MySpace.com participation growing by leaps and bounds, social-networking sites are making their way into the workplace too.
Is that a good thing? Not necessarily if you ask the employers who regularly block employee access to such sites.
Indeed, a recent analysis of data submitted by thousands of Barracuda Networks’ Web Filter customers finds that about half the businesses using these filters are setting up blocks to MySpace, Facebook, and other such sites. Barracuda also reported that 21 percent of the businesses it surveyed actively monitor their employees’ Internet activities.
At first blush that may sound like a corporate version of Big Brother, but employers do have legitimate reasons to worry.
Their chief concern is the potential damage from viruses or spyware, according to Barracuda. They cited the potential drain on employee productivity as a close second. What’s more, employers will tell you that bandwidth issues and potential liability exposure are also convincing reasons to restrict certain Internet access by employees.
Nevertheless, businesses may learn eventually that the types of powerful communication tools now available for personal purposes on social-networking sites can be leveraged for perfectly appropriate and advantageous business uses. In fact, a number of business professionals already are communicating with one another on LinkedIn.com, a business-oriented social-networking site.
The challenge for employers is to find a way to defend against intrusions while fostering employee productivity. They want to limit potential liability even while offering the use of the most robust communication tools possible.
Hence the dilemma.
But this dilemma, over time, likely will be resolved. Once upon a time, businesses to some extent were very worried about any sort of Web access for employees. They feared that the hired help would spend the day surfing inappropriate sites, shopping online, and otherwise wasting company time–not to mention potentially leaking proprietary company information.
However, it is a fact of business life that companies that deploy the best and most effective means of communication will succeed. Thus, over time, companies have developed business equipment and computer policies. These policies specifically delineate for employees how they should–and should not–use the company’s computers, networks, and e-mail. Employees are also asked to sign documents agreeing to follow such policies.
There have been problems, of course. Not every employee who has signed such an agreement has acted in concert with the company’s Internet policies. Still, there is no question that companies that have embraced the Internet have benefited over those that have ignored the changes overtaking the business world.
Social-networking sites truly do provide robust features that provide a richer means of online communications. Rather than ban employees from using the medium, managers should think ahead how to turn it to their advantage. Careful thought should be given when considering the use of any networking features that could be detrimental to an enterprise. From there, policies can be crafted on a company-by-company basis to guide employees and gain their buy-in.
Yes, legal counsel likely should be consulted along the way too. While this imposes some costs on the front end, the profitable proof will be in the pudding. Any company built to last will recognize this is an investment in its future.
Eric J. Sinrod is a partner in the San Francisco office of Duane Morris. His focus includes information technology and intellectual-property disputes. To receive his weekly columns, send an e-mail to ejsinrod@duanemorris.com with “Subscribe” in the subject line. This column is prepared and published for informational purposes only, and it should not be construed as legal advice. The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the author’s law firm or its individual partners.
This article is for general information and does not include full legal analysis of the matters presented. It should not be construed or relied upon as legal advice or legal opinion on any specific facts or circumstances. The description of the results of any specific case or transaction contained herein does not mean or suggest that similar results can or could be obtained in any other matter. Each legal matter should be considered to be unique and subject to varying results. The invitation to contact the authors or attorneys in our firm is not a solicitation to provide professional services and should not be construed as a statement as to any availability to perform legal services in any jurisdiction in which such attorney is not permitted to practice.
United States: Perspective: Can Social Networking Co-Exist With The Workplace?
With Facebook and MySpace.com participation growing by leaps and bounds, social-networking sites are making their way into the workplace too.
Is that a good thing? Not necessarily if you ask the employers who regularly block employee access to such sites.
Indeed, a recent analysis of data submitted by thousands of Barracuda Networks’ Web Filter customers finds that about half the businesses using these filters are setting up blocks to MySpace, Facebook, and other such sites. Barracuda also reported that 21 percent of the businesses it surveyed actively monitor their employees’ Internet activities.
At first blush that may sound like a corporate version of Big Brother, but employers do have legitimate reasons to worry.
Their chief concern is the potential damage from viruses or spyware, according to Barracuda. They cited the potential drain on employee productivity as a close second. What’s more, employers will tell you that bandwidth issues and potential liability exposure are also convincing reasons to restrict certain Internet access by employees.
Nevertheless, businesses may learn eventually that the types of powerful communication tools now available for personal purposes on social-networking sites can be leveraged for perfectly appropriate and advantageous business uses. In fact, a number of business professionals already are communicating with one another on LinkedIn.com, a business-oriented social-networking site.
The challenge for employers is to find a way to defend against intrusions while fostering employee productivity. They want to limit potential liability even while offering the use of the most robust communication tools possible.
Hence the dilemma.
But this dilemma, over time, likely will be resolved. Once upon a time, businesses to some extent were very worried about any sort of Web access for employees. They feared that the hired help would spend the day surfing inappropriate sites, shopping online, and otherwise wasting company time–not to mention potentially leaking proprietary company information.
However, it is a fact of business life that companies that deploy the best and most effective means of communication will succeed. Thus, over time, companies have developed business equipment and computer policies. These policies specifically delineate for employees how they should–and should not–use the company’s computers, networks, and e-mail. Employees are also asked to sign documents agreeing to follow such policies.
There have been problems, of course. Not every employee who has signed such an agreement has acted in concert with the company’s Internet policies. Still, there is no question that companies that have embraced the Internet have benefited over those that have ignored the changes overtaking the business world.
Social-networking sites truly do provide robust features that provide a richer means of online communications. Rather than ban employees from using the medium, managers should think ahead how to turn it to their advantage. Careful thought should be given when considering the use of any networking features that could be detrimental to an enterprise. From there, policies can be crafted on a company-by-company basis to guide employees and gain their buy-in.
Yes, legal counsel likely should be consulted along the way too. While this imposes some costs on the front end, the profitable proof will be in the pudding. Any company built to last will recognize this is an investment in its future.
Eric J. Sinrod is a partner in the San Francisco office of Duane Morris. His focus includes information technology and intellectual-property disputes. To receive his weekly columns, send an e-mail to ejsinrod@duanemorris.com with “Subscribe” in the subject line. This column is prepared and published for informational purposes only, and it should not be construed as legal advice. The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the author’s law firm or its individual partners.
This article is for general information and does not include full legal analysis of the matters presented. It should not be construed or relied upon as legal advice or legal opinion on any specific facts or circumstances. The description of the results of any specific case or transaction contained herein does not mean or suggest that similar results can or could be obtained in any other matter. Each legal matter should be considered to be unique and subject to varying results. The invitation to contact the authors or attorneys in our firm is not a solicitation to provide professional services and should not be construed as a statement as to any availability to perform legal services in any jurisdiction in which such attorney is not permitted to practice.