Personal data, open secret on Corporation site

Chennai

The Corporation of Chennai uploaded birth and death certificates on their website (chennaicorporation.gov.in), so people could access these documents easily. However, the lack of a secure access process makes these documents available to all, causing huge concerns for people who have all their personal details listed on the certificates. The easy availability of these key documents, especially the birth certificate, which lists names of parents, home addresses and other such details, have raised concerns of breach of privacy, misuse of personal information and identity theft.

Breach of cyber law Cyber law expert N A. Vijayashankar, one of the founders of Cyber Society of India, says this current system of issuing birth/ death certificates is not cyber law compliant. “The flaws were brought to my attention, when my wife’s name Suma, was misspelt as S. Uma in our child’s birth certificate online. Also the signing authority in the original certificate issued before this system came into place was different from those on the online records. This means that the birth certificates have been re-issued. There is also a lack of grievance redressal system, as I had to use my personal connections to correct the name,” explains this Information Assurance Consultant.

Children at risk Advocate Sanjay Pinto says this lack of security of important documents is a serious breach of privacy. “If the certificate reveals addresses, then this is a very serious breach of privacy. This can be particularly harmful to children, as any paedophile on prowl can check these records and misuse the information. Safety features should be installed so only parents and legal guardians can access this document and only after providing another ID proof,” he says. A random check by this newspaper allowed access to a number of certificates of friends, family staffers and even complete strangers. A birth certificate, coupled with a few other documents allows one to apply for a Pan card, or can even be used to open a bank account. Vikram Kapur, Corporation Commissioner, says the privacy concerns are unfounded. “This facility has been around for several years and allows any person to download birth and death certificates free of charge. The Corporation EDP Cell Senior System Analyst has clarified that it is not possible for automatic update and bulk generation of data through our site. Our database server is not exposed to the outside world. We are having complete backup of data and there is no threat to it. We have also seen the tweet and the conversation. The privacy concerns expressed therein are unfounded,” he says.


Digital downer
No. of registrations done in  Chennai Corporation every year
Births- 1,10,000
Deaths- 39,000

Easy access to birth/death certificates is a privacy breach

• Risk factor
• Identity theft
• Privacy breach
• Misuse of personal information
• Security breach
• Data theft