Government clears policy to sell vehicle registration data

SJM1214 · 18th March 2019, 13:45

Won't allow misuse of vehicle data: Road Transport Ministry

Quote:

Days after it cleared a policy to share vehicle registration data collected by the Road Transport Ministry, the government on Wednesday said all checks and balances would be put in place to ensure that the data shared under the policy is not misused.

While this access to bulk data would cost Rs 3 crore for commercial organisations for the current year, educational institutions would be able to get access for "research purposes" by paying Rs 5 lakh. The charges would be revised every year accommodating an increase of 5 per cent annually, as per the policy.

According to the government, the move to streamline sharing of vehicles registration data would benefit the transport and automobile industries.

Full Article.

SJM1214 · 6th May 2019, 11:29

Now, only Indian firms can access VAHAN big data and for a fee.

Quote:

The Road Transport and Highways Ministry recently shaped a bulk data sharing policy and procedure – for sharing data regarding vehicle registration from the VAHAN database – following a wide demand for such data which can be used for varied purposes.

“The policy has been issued to ensure companies use data in an anonymized manner. A company in the business of selling paints could want to know the maximum number of cars sold to find the preferred color,” explained an official. The Ministry has put a condition that companies wanting to do big-data analytics, must be registered in India with at least 50 percent ownership by an Indian or have an Indian company.

News Source.

BoneCollector · 10th July 2019, 14:45

Just came across this news and thankfully, there's already a thread.

Government has sold vehicle and registration data to 87 private and 32 government entities and collected Rs. 65 crores.

Quote:

In his question, Husain Dalwai, a Congress MP in Rajya Sabha, asked "if government has intended to sell Vahan and Sarathi database in bulk, (and) if so, the estimated revenue for such a sale".

In reply, the government on July 8 revealed that it has provided 87 private and 32 government entities access to the Vahan and Sarathi database, and has collected Rs 65 crore so far by giving such access.

Vahan and Sarathi deal with data related to vehicle registration and driving licenses, respectively. The ministry maintains the Centralized National Registry through the National Informatics Centre and it has approximately 25 crore vehicle registration records and 15 crore driving license records.

https://www.indiatoday.in/auto/lates...901-2019-07-10

The headline is misleading as it mention only 3 crores.

adhd92 · 11th July 2019, 01:35

Hi guys

Just read a recent news which mentions the government is selling vehicle and DL data to private companies. This announcement was made in the Rajya Sabha.

The first thought that came to mind is how is this even acceptable or legal?

Apparently, India has no data privacy laws. We are in 2019!!

Let me know your thoughts.

https://www-indiatoday-in.cdn.amppro...901-2019-07-10

tarik.arora · 11th July 2019, 09:14

With the 'Data is the new oil' mentality, Western countries are making laws to protect data and privacy and here our government itself is selling it. Worst part is, an average Joe will never come to know this because no mainstream media will cover this. This definitely is a regressive move for some financial gains.

Imagine some random agency will have access to my vehicle insurance, licence number, engine number, chassis number and what not. The immediate impact will be an increase in number of spam calls / messages / emails and the long term impact cannot even be imagined as of now.

A couple of examples that i can think of:

a) Some fraudster organisation can easily access my insurance data and contact me just before the renewal to trick me into depositing money for renewal and never come back. We still have people on this very planet who share their OTPs, CVV numbers and all such details in response to a million dollar prize email from Coca-Cola headquarters

b) Anyone can now access my name, my address, my phone number, my bank account name and number through which the insurance was renewed. Can this not lead to a bank-related frauds?

c) Leave all this, if i recall correctly, temporary LMV licence even has the user's signature. Although, anyone buying this service will have access to just the data and not the actual document, but you never know. I agree that i am taking this too far, but just trying to imagine the worst case scenarios.

locusjag · 11th July 2019, 09:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by adhd92

Just read a recent news which mentions the government is selling vehicle and DL data to private companies. This announcement was made in the Rajya Sabha.

The first thought that came to mind is how is this even acceptable or legal?

Apparently, India has no data privacy laws. We are in 2019!!

Let me know your thoughts.

I don't know about the absolute legality of it all, but it's about time that the data has caught up with Indians. More of this needs to be done. From what I understand, it has not been revealed which private entities are buying the data. But if I were to guess, i'd say it's insurers, bankers etc. who're buying the data. Here are 2 readymade, no-brainer use cases, for example:

1) Insurer A buys the vehicle and driver license data and begins actuarial modeling based on the number of traffic and RTO violations listed against each vehicle (e.g., illegal seat modification) and each driver (e.g., ran a red light). The insurer will then form a consortium with other like-minded insurers and approach IRDA to lobby for allowing rate changes based on this data. The IRDA mulls over switching to this globally accepted method of rating based on driver and vehicle data. The Ministry of Road Transportation and Highways also expresses its glee at the prospect of normatively clamping down on bad driving by allowing the insurance industry to sink its fangs into errant drivers. Meanwhile all those foreign insurers who've made their 49% investments in Indian insurance companies (e.g., Liberty Mutual with its stake in Videocon's insurance company) begin whispering in their Indian counterparts' ears - "psst, we have the data aggregator Lexis Nexis, who can tell us back in America who lives at a particular address, which vehicles are garaged there, what the driving and accident histories are of the concerned individuals at the address and which vehicles are on loan to which banks. Let's talk to Lexis Nexis to see if they want to start in India. It'll help us nail the fraudulent customers who've been keeping our margins low."

2) Banks buy the vehicle data and begin tracking their non-performing vehicle loan assets. They locate quite a few wilful violators who've skimped on repaying their vehicle loans and absconded.

I personally know of my dad's colleague at a PSU bank who was desperately trying to track a wilful 20 Lakh car loan defaulter. He'd been a Senior Director at a Desi IT company where I work. He had resigned by the time I tried enquiring and the HR wouldn't divulge data, even if it meant they were shielding a criminal. So that then is the dilemma facing us - are we crying wolf over the data when in fact Indians have been incentivized to act criminally (on the road, with taking out/skipping on loans etc.) just because the data was just never there?

Come to think about it - data is our karma. Why fear it unduly if we do no wrong? The data is what will make our roads safer and our financial system more secure - with many more benefits in the offing.

SJM1214 · 11th July 2019, 10:27

Govt selling vehicle and DL data of Indians for Rs 3 crore, 87 private companies already bought it.

Quote:

In his question, Husain Dalwai, a Congress MP in Rajya Sabha, asked "if government has intended to sell Vahan and Sarathi database in bulk, (and) if so, the estimated revenue for such a sale".

In reply, the government on July 8 revealed that it has provided 87 private and 32 government entities access to the Vahan and Sarathi database, and has collected Rs 65 crore so far by giving such access.

Quote:

Vahan and Sarathi deal with data related to vehicle registration and driving licenses, respectively. The ministry maintains the Centralized National Registry through the National Informatics Centre and it has approximately 25 crore vehicle registration records and 15 crore driving license records.

News Source.

ZenMaster · 15th July 2019, 22:43

Data is the new oil.
Our data is more valuable than we think it is. The Companies and the rich billionaires feeding off them know this. Unfortunately the common people don't.

Unfortunately the govt also seems to have come to the unfortunate conclusion that people's privacy is expendable if it makes them money.

We have to ask ourselves this. What is the price of our convenience? Are we addicting ourselves to all these conveniences at the cost of our Freedom and Privacy.

The scariest one of these companies is Amazon. To companies like amazon, we are not just customers, but resources (like a mine). They harvest data in ways we can't even imagine.

I bet that none of us would spend more than a minute reading "terms and conditions" before signing up to any of today's online services. The companies know that very well . Some legal firms have found that these compnaies go to great lengths to make these terms and conditions as boring, long , vague and difficult to understand as possible so that consumers don't understand their full scope even if they try reading them but also gives them too much power as well as the ability to twist the meaning of this jargon to benefit them whichever case arises.

If someone were to translate all the legal jargon into normal conversational language , I'm sure not one of us would sign up to most of the online "free" websites and especially social media. I've read a shortened version of these T&C which someone translated to normal English such that it explained all the things these companies can do with our data, and the ways they collect them; I was dumbstruck at how much control and sometimes authority over our personal Information and private data we have willingly (read foolishly) signed over to these companies.

Would we give someone power of attorney over our personal property to someone just because they promised they give us some freebies or discounts etc?
Imagine them also including a clause that if something happens (i.e. property stolen, lost or devallued or abused) to us or our property because of them having access , they wouldn't be liable?

Would you do it then?

volkman10 · 24th June 2020, 15:41

Another rollback of Govt.'s infamous policy!

Transport ministry scraps bulk data sharing policy.

Quote:

The transport ministry has decided to scrap the bulk data sharing policy issued in 2019, citing potential misuse of personal information and privacy issues.

Link

bmw_lover · 24th June 2020, 15:59

- So is the govt. has exhausted all the other means of making money or has it turned itself into business corporation? Or are they planning to lower fuel taxes in return?

- More so what right does the govt. has over my data to sell it for money?

- I think either the supreme court will have to take suo moto cognizance of this or some ethical lawyer will have to file a PIL.

- Wasn’t the govt. supposed to make tougher data privacy and data localisation laws so that private corporations couldn’t exploit it?

- I hope this isn’t happening at the behest of MNC’s.

GwD · 24th June 2020, 17:44

It is truly scary. Data is much more valuable than oil ever could be. Oil is a limited resource while data is being created in increasing volumes. In my schooldays Orwell's 1984 was a frightening scenario where Big Brother was watching us. Today Big Brother doesn't need to watch us; he knows more about me than I do, has already analysed me in more ways that I can possibly imagine and has more details than I have and can predict my behaviour. If it isn't scary then I don't know what is.

It is not a practical idea to read legal mumbo jumbo where you sign away all your rights when you are urgently looking for something---to buy something, to connect to someone, to post a message, or any of the myriad other things. The modus operandi is the same for every big entity---first hook the individual, get him addicted to the offering, then make him sign away his rights to a lot of data. In the Information Age this is what powerful entities do. In earlier times it was restricted to personal liberty and wealthy people had slaves. Then there was a time when powerful people conquered lands and amassed whatever the land had to give. In both these examples there was resistance which had to be overcome by force. But now it is more insidious because individuals are made to give away their rights voluntarily, either with or without knowledge of the implications of their action. In our times information is power and wealth. Also information begets more information. As I see it the only way to escape is to become a social hermit, eschew online transactions, and go back to using cash. But I doubt if anyone will agree to it as the temptations are too much.

Venkatesh · 13th February 2021, 14:54

Union minister Nitin Gadkari informed the Parliament that the government had earned over Rs 100 crores by providing access to Vahan and Sarathi databases to private entities.

The revenue collected by the Government by providing access to Vahan and Sarathi databases is ₹1,11,38,79,757," said Gadkari

The Vahan and Sarathi databases contain details of registered vehicles and driving licenses in the country.

Quote:

However, the ministry has now discarded the bulk data sharing policy issued in 2019. The minister told Parliament that the data had been shared with 170 parties, including law enforcement agencies, the home ministry, auto, freight and insurance companies. The list includes BMW, Axis Bank, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, L&T Financial Services, and Mercedes Benz.

Source

drmohitg · 13th February 2021, 17:19

And yes the media is going crazy attacking WhatsApp and Facebook for their data sharing policies. Here our own government is happily making money by providing access to our data. I somehow missed reading this news in 2019 and was shocked to read about this in the news today. Even after all the taxes etc, they still need to resort to this to collect a mere 111 Crores? That is a small sum from a ministry point of view.

dipamji · 8th April 2021, 11:49

SCOOP | Gadkari's ministry sold vehicle ownership data of entire country to a firm in a secretive deal. Officials warned repeatedly of monopoly to pvt firm for peanuts. The company made crores from it. Part 1 of
@shreegireesh's investigations
https://thewire.in/government/modi-g...ane-automotive

Not sure what all of you make of this, but something terribly went wrong with the "anonymised data" of crores of vehicles and their owners.

11th July 2019, 01:35	#19
adhd92 BHPian Join Date: May 2019 Location: Gurgaon Posts: 41 Thanked: 82 Times	Government sharing our private data for money Hi guys Just read a recent news which mentions the government is selling vehicle and DL data to private companies. This announcement was made in the Rajya Sabha. The first thought that came to mind is how is this even acceptable or legal? Apparently, India has no data privacy laws. We are in 2019!! Let me know your thoughts. https://www-indiatoday-in.cdn.amppro...901-2019-07-10
	() Thanks

11th July 2019, 09:14	#20
tarik.arora BHPian Join Date: Dec 2018 Location: Noida Posts: 551 Thanked: 1,208 Times	Re: Government clears policy to sell vehicle registration data With the 'Data is the new oil' mentality, Western countries are making laws to protect data and privacy and here our government itself is selling it. Worst part is, an average Joe will never come to know this because no mainstream media will cover this. This definitely is a regressive move for some financial gains. Imagine some random agency will have access to my vehicle insurance, licence number, engine number, chassis number and what not. The immediate impact will be an increase in number of spam calls / messages / emails and the long term impact cannot even be imagined as of now. A couple of examples that i can think of: a) Some fraudster organisation can easily access my insurance data and contact me just before the renewal to trick me into depositing money for renewal and never come back. We still have people on this very planet who share their OTPs, CVV numbers and all such details in response to a million dollar prize email from Coca-Cola headquarters b) Anyone can now access my name, my address, my phone number, my bank account name and number through which the insurance was renewed. Can this not lead to a bank-related frauds? c) Leave all this, if i recall correctly, temporary LMV licence even has the user's signature. Although, anyone buying this service will have access to just the data and not the actual document, but you never know. I agree that i am taking this too far, but just trying to imagine the worst case scenarios. Last edited by tarik.arora : 11th July 2019 at 09:28.
	(1) Thanks

15th July 2019, 22:43	#23
ZenMaster BHPian Join Date: Mar 2019 Location: Kottayam Posts: 571 Thanked: 2,616 Times	Re: Government clears policy to sell vehicle registration data Data is the new oil. Our data is more valuable than we think it is. The Companies and the rich billionaires feeding off them know this. Unfortunately the common people don't. Unfortunately the govt also seems to have come to the unfortunate conclusion that people's privacy is expendable if it makes them money. We have to ask ourselves this. What is the price of our convenience? Are we addicting ourselves to all these conveniences at the cost of our Freedom and Privacy. The scariest one of these companies is Amazon. To companies like amazon, we are not just customers, but resources (like a mine). They harvest data in ways we can't even imagine. I bet that none of us would spend more than a minute reading "terms and conditions" before signing up to any of today's online services. The companies know that very well . Some legal firms have found that these compnaies go to great lengths to make these terms and conditions as boring, long , vague and difficult to understand as possible so that consumers don't understand their full scope even if they try reading them but also gives them too much power as well as the ability to twist the meaning of this jargon to benefit them whichever case arises. If someone were to translate all the legal jargon into normal conversational language , I'm sure not one of us would sign up to most of the online "free" websites and especially social media. I've read a shortened version of these T&C which someone translated to normal English such that it explained all the things these companies can do with our data, and the ways they collect them; I was dumbstruck at how much control and sometimes authority over our personal Information and private data we have willingly (read foolishly) signed over to these companies. Would we give someone power of attorney over our personal property to someone just because they promised they give us some freebies or discounts etc? Imagine them also including a clause that if something happens (i.e. property stolen, lost or devallued or abused) to us or our property because of them having access , they wouldn't be liable? Would you do it then?
	(4) Thanks

24th June 2020, 15:59	#25
bmw_lover BHPian Join Date: Sep 2019 Location: New Delhi Posts: 117 Thanked: 579 Times	Re: Government clears policy to sell vehicle registration data - So is the govt. has exhausted all the other means of making money or has it turned itself into business corporation? Or are they planning to lower fuel taxes in return? - More so what right does the govt. has over my data to sell it for money? - I think either the supreme court will have to take suo moto cognizance of this or some ethical lawyer will have to file a PIL. - Wasn’t the govt. supposed to make tougher data privacy and data localisation laws so that private corporations couldn’t exploit it? - I hope this isn’t happening at the behest of MNC’s.
	() Thanks

24th June 2020, 17:44	#26
GwD BHPian Join Date: Aug 2017 Location: Kolkata Posts: 42 Thanked: 71 Times	Re: Government clears policy to sell vehicle registration data It is truly scary. Data is much more valuable than oil ever could be. Oil is a limited resource while data is being created in increasing volumes. In my schooldays Orwell's 1984 was a frightening scenario where Big Brother was watching us. Today Big Brother doesn't need to watch us; he knows more about me than I do, has already analysed me in more ways that I can possibly imagine and has more details than I have and can predict my behaviour. If it isn't scary then I don't know what is. It is not a practical idea to read legal mumbo jumbo where you sign away all your rights when you are urgently looking for something---to buy something, to connect to someone, to post a message, or any of the myriad other things. The modus operandi is the same for every big entity---first hook the individual, get him addicted to the offering, then make him sign away his rights to a lot of data. In the Information Age this is what powerful entities do. In earlier times it was restricted to personal liberty and wealthy people had slaves. Then there was a time when powerful people conquered lands and amassed whatever the land had to give. In both these examples there was resistance which had to be overcome by force. But now it is more insidious because individuals are made to give away their rights voluntarily, either with or without knowledge of the implications of their action. In our times information is power and wealth. Also information begets more information. As I see it the only way to escape is to become a social hermit, eschew online transactions, and go back to using cash. But I doubt if anyone will agree to it as the temptations are too much.
	() Thanks

13th February 2021, 17:19	#28
drmohitg Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Liverpool/Delhi Posts: 5,449 Thanked: 7,573 Times	Re: Government clears policy to sell vehicle registration data And yes the media is going crazy attacking WhatsApp and Facebook for their data sharing policies. Here our own government is happily making money by providing access to our data. I somehow missed reading this news in 2019 and was shocked to read about this in the news today. Even after all the taxes etc, they still need to resort to this to collect a mere 111 Crores? That is a small sum from a ministry point of view.
	(2) Thanks

8th April 2021, 11:49	#29
dipamji Newbie Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: Ahmedabad Posts: 10 Thanked: 6 Times	@reporters_co: Gadkari's ministry sold vehicle ownership data of entire country to a firm. SCOOP \| Gadkari's ministry sold vehicle ownership data of entire country to a firm in a secretive deal. Officials warned repeatedly of monopoly to pvt firm for peanuts. The company made crores from it. Part 1 of @shreegireesh's investigations https://thewire.in/government/modi-g...ane-automotive Not sure what all of you make of this, but something terribly went wrong with the "anonymised data" of crores of vehicles and their owners.
	() Thanks