I really dislike the economist. To me the very first thing this program makes me think of is how the government will abuse it. They briefly mention that there is the possibility that some sort of privacy issue might pop up in the future, but quickly dismiss the argument as outweighed by the ends these means achieve. They even get a swipe in at 'market distorting subsidies' while their at it.<p>While other magazines might have bias the Economist takes it to a whole new level. I would call every piece of 'reporting' they do an editorial.<p>That said the article did prompt me to learn more. Top Google results which paint a slightly different picture.<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unique_Identification_Authority_of_India#Risks_and_criticism" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unique_Identification_Authority...</a><p><a href="http://www.zdnet.com/blog/india/indias-unique-id-project-all-but-dead/802" rel="nofollow">http://www.zdnet.com/blog/india/indias-unique-id-project-all...</a>
I really want this to work, but I'm skeptical. I've lived in India, and I know that corruption is rampant. These "middle men" will try hard to figure out another way to game this system. Hopefully it's the start of something, but I think the economist is being a bit too optimistic in claiming that this alone will transform India.
There is tons to do even if the UID is successfully rolled out through out the country. First and foremost would be to get all government services to willingly accept the UID as the standard scheme ... I know that sounds ironic but such is the life in India ...
The only reason why this project will fall-on-the-face is that here a Government with least technical competence (notwithstanding the down-votes) is dreaming to implement a solution (almost Utopian) to the most socio-technically challenging problem known worldwide and that too for a country of a billion bare-footed men. Besides, there is no-one to stop the nation from bleeding to scams and corruption.<p>Edited: Punctuation.
If this was proposed for a 'developed' country, there would rightly be uproar from civil liberties groups, citizens etc. But because it's happening in an 'underdeveloped' country, it's somehow acceptable. I understand the challenges faced by the Indian government in providing services to a such a huge population but this approach is open to rampant abuse by the 'middlemen' and by elements in the government itself. Any self-respecting 'security' agency would get their tentacles into something like this asap. Doubtless, they're already involved in the implementation on the quiet.<p>[edit: corrected typo]