Notes from the IAPP Asia Managing Director, 14 April 2017

Namaste!

I have just returned from India; it’s vibrant, it’s chaotic, and it’s full of life. When asked on which side of the road Indians drive, we used to joke “all of them!” Now, large Indian cities have highways and, for the most part, vehicles are heading in the same direction, but I came to realize that you can get five cars, a ricksaw, and multiple motorbikes abreast on a three-lane highway, not to mention cyclists and pedestrians.

Highways are not the only advancement, however, and technology continues at the forefront of India’s progress. I was fortunate to visit the IIIT (Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology) in New Delhi, which currently hosts more than 1,000 computer science students and which is undergoing expansion to triple its size. I met with Associate Professor Ponnurangam Kumaraguru (“PK”) and, as an aside, was struck by an infographic of a study he is leading into “Killfies,” or people who have lost their lives taking selfies. Apparently the number is 260 and rising. India tops the geographical table for fatalities, with the largest number dying on the roofs of trains.

Smart phones don’t make people smart.

My favourite quote from my trip was on PK’s wall:
"Send a man a phish, and he will click on it.
Teach a man to phish and 10,000 will click on it.”

To continue the topic of how technology is affecting everyday life in India, the theme of our Inaugural KnowledgeNet in New Delhi was “Security & Privacy concerns for a Cashless India.” This is a particularly poignant topic following the demonetization last year of high denomination Indian Rupee notes, or “de-mon” as it is now notoriously known. Could an ulterior motive of the de-mon been to drive India towards a cashless, digital (and hence traceable) society? What control will government have over this?

India is implementing an Identity number system called Aadhaar, which incorporates biometric data and is becoming a requisite for an increasing number of government services (even though, ostensibly, it is not “compulsory”). A natural progression is to link Aadhaar to payment systems, which the government is developing in a move away from conventional payment-systems development. It remains to be seen whether this creates a conflict of the government’s role in regulating payments systems. The proliferation of digital wallets did increase immediately after de-mon, but has not continued to increase. While cashless payment systems may be thought to increase inclusion in financial systems, one possible side-effect of an increasingly cashless society is inadvertent exclusion: 300-400m people in India do not own smart phones and cashless payments may be driven to less secure devices, causing increased risk of loss and an eventual lack of trust, with those who can least afford it resorting back to cash.

One thing is clear, the Aadhaar system is being be linked to other systems and databases. People’s control over their personal identifiable information will become increasingly difficult to maintain and the risk of fraud increases exponentially. This gives a banquet of food for thought for privacy pros and I am sure we will read more about this in the months to come.

Here’s my appetizer from the banquet, the most memorable quote from our first Delhi KnowledgeNet meeting, courtesy of Deepak Maheshwari: Who was the world's first hacker? Alibaba, of Forty Thieves fame, because he stole a password! (Nothing to do with Alibaba the company, I hasten to add!)

My week was rounded off with a Privacy After Hours in Bangalore, meeting new friends and old. The phenomenal privacy network continues to delight and amaze me.

As the posters say, “Incredible India!”