Hi Friends,

Even as I launch this today ( my 80th Birthday ), I realize that there is yet so much to say and do. There is just no time to look back, no time to wonder,"Will anyone read these pages?"

With regards,
Hemen Parekh
27 June 2013

Now as I approach my 90th birthday ( 27 June 2023 ) , I invite you to visit my Digital Avatar ( www.hemenparekh.ai ) – and continue chatting with me , even when I am no more here physically

Monday 23 March 2020

Mobiles for Tracking Corona Movements ?




Context :


Extract :

Ø  Poland released an app last week that requires people who have returned from traveling abroad to send selfies periodically, proving that they’re safe indoors for the full mandatory 14-day quarantine, according to AFP.

Ø  If a selfie gets requested through the “Home Quarantineapp — the requests are randomly timed throughout the day — and 20 minutes elapse, the police are notified. Fines run anywhere between about $118 to $1,180 according to the local police force.

==========================================================


Extract :

Ø  Comparing the public response to interventions, in terms of the rate of movement over an entire county from one day to the next, measured against a baseline from normal times, can provide insight into the degree to which recommendations on social distancing are being followed. We will need these estimates, not only now but also when we need to resume life again without risking a major resurgence

Ø  Consent-based data sharing models and data protection laws provide for the legal grounds to use personal data during emergencies, but we do not advocate the use of individual data (56). The measures proposed do not need to run afoul of data protection goals, as a recent statement by the Chair of the European Data Protection Board in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak clarifies (7).


Ø  Deutsche Telekom has shared aggregated data with Germany to help measure social distancing, in compliance with EU laws (9). The more such analyses are initiated and concluded openly, and in accordance with the law, the greater will be the public trust and our ability to produce reliable analytic insights.

==========================================================

Cellphone tracking could help stem the spread of coronavirus. Is privacy the price?

Extract :

Ø  Such contact tracing is a mainstay of infectious disease control. But the Oxford team is one of several now advocating for a new approach: tapping into cellphone location data to track the spread of infection and warn people who may have been exposed.

Ø  China, for example, has reportedly relied on mass surveillance of phones to classify individuals by their health status and restrict their movements.

Ø   “No matter how many resources you put into [contact tracing], it’s never going to keep ahead of the virus,” he says. “It’s always going to be one or two generations ahead.”

Ø  To stop the epidemic, health officials must reduce the virus’ reproductive number—the average number of people each infected person transmits the virus to—to less than one.

     When the team modeled a scenario in which contacts were notified the instant a
     person tested positive, it was possible to push the reproductive rate of the       virus below that threshold, the team reported in a preprint this week.

Ø  At its simplest, digital contact tracing might work like this: Phones log their own locations; when the owner of a phone tests positive for COVID-19, a record of their recent movements is shared with health officials;

     Owners of any other phones that recently came close to that phone get notified of
     their risk of infection and are advised to self-isolate.


Ø   “They’re essentially texting people, saying, ‘Hey, there’s been a 60-year-old woman who’s positive for COVID. Click this for more information about her path,’” says Anne Liu, a global health expert at Columbia University.

Ø  In countries with strict data privacy laws, one option for collecting data is to ask telecommunications and other tech companies to share anonymous, aggregated information they’ve already gathered

Ø  German health ministry had drafted changes to a law called the Infection Protection Act to allow, among other things, the tracking of people who were in contact with those infected with the coronavirus.

==========================================================


Ramesh Raskar's MIT Team Builds App That Tells If Someone's Infected With COVID-19 Near You



A future iteration of the app, soon to be released, would compare a user’s recent locations against the path of an infected person and alert them of potential contact

The team, which includes collaborators from Harvard University and the Mayo Clinic, is in discussions witha dozen cities and nations in all parts of the world,” about running pilot trials of the app, Raskar [raskar@media.mit.ed  ] says.

Though a combination of GPS tracking, wireless network data, and connections between phones via Bluetooth, Beutel says the app should be able to detect when a phone comes within 1 meter of another phone


Designed with data security and privacy protection at its heart, MIT Private Kit is the next generation of secure location logging

=====================================================

Here are my suggestions :

OLD SUGGESTIONS

[ Earlier sent as E-Mail to Cabinet Ministers ] :

Ø  Thermal Imaging software embedded into roadside CCTV cameras  ( with Infrared Night Vision ) all over the cities / towns ( or embedded into cameras mounted on Drones ) + embedded Facial Recognition Software + Software to link each captured face with Aadhar Database ( photo + Biometric ) of all citizen


Ø  Work from Home  (  WFH  )

Ø  Location tracking using e-PMB Mobile App
                       https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2016/06/from-bad-to-mad.html      ]

Ø  Centralized Database of Health Records
[ Source : https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2019/07/health-data-vault.html                   ]

Ø  Enable millions ( who are rendered JOBLESS ) , to earn Rs 30,000 pm , by implementing,

               Digital Dividend from Demographic Data 


Ø  WHO ( which doctor ) , prescribed  WHAT drug ( drug name ) made by WHO (
     name of drug manufacturer ) , to WHOM  (patient name ) , and WHY ( disease
     diagnosis ) , and WHEN ( date ) and sold by WHICH ( drug store )


=====================================================================================

Re-Hashed SUGGESTIONS :

Ø  Hold in abeyance for ONE YEAR, proposed

#     DATA PROTECTION LAW
#     E-Comm Policy

Ø  Make CENCUS / NPR , a pure Mobile App based exercise ( with 24x7 dynamic / continuous UP-DATING by citizen from privacy of their homes ( No need for 33 lakh enumerators to increase the probability of spreading Corona Virus, by visiting millions of homes

Ø  Immediately phone up Prof. Ramesh Raskar { MIT } and implement Mobile App developed by his team, by issue of an appropriate ORDINANCE , to be converted into a  Infection Protection Act , within 6 months  

=========================================================

Dear Shri RaviShankar Prasadji / Dr HarshVardhanji ,


The alacrity and the vision with which you have tackled the current Corona Crisis , are commendable and deserve a BIG “ Thank You “


But considering the rate at which people around the World are getting infected ( person to person transmission ), we need a lot more URGENT / STRINGENT steps, to save lakhs of our citizen from dying


Please , without any hesitation, immediately promulgate a HEALTH EMERGENCY ORDINANCE , which temporarily suspends PERSONAL DATA PRIVACY rights of all citizen and enable the Government to enforce rules / regulations in overall NATIONAL INTEREST


PLEASE , REQUEST SHRI MODIJI, TO ANNOUNCE THIS TO THE NATION IN HIS PLANNED ADDRESS AT 8 PM TODAY



=========================================================

24 March 2020

hcp@RecruitGuru.com

Friday 20 March 2020

बहुजन हिताय बहुजन सुखाय


बहुजन हिताय बहुजन सुखाय

Bahujana sukhaya bahujana hitaya cha (translates to "for the happiness of the many, for the welfare of the many")[1] is a dictum
 or aphorism enunciated in the Rigveda in Sanskrit.[2]


Context :

Taiwan's New 'Electronic Fence' for Quarantines Leads Wave of Virus Monitoring 

Extract :

Ø  Taiwan, which has won global praise for its effective action against the coronavirus, is rolling out a mobile phone-based "electronic fence" that uses location-tracking to ensure people who are quarantined stay in their homes.

 

Ø  Governments around the world are  combining technology  and human efforts to enforce quarantines that require people who have been exposed to the virus to stay in their homes, but Taiwan's system is believed to be the first to use mobile phone tracking for that purpose.

 

Ø  The system monitors phone signals to alert police and local officials if those in home quarantine move away from their address or turn off their phones. Jyan said authorities will contact or visit those who trigger an alert within 15 minutes


Ø  In Hong Kong, location-tracking wristbands are given to those put under quarantine.


Ø  In Singapore, the government uses text messages to contact people, who must click on a link to prove they are at home.

 

Ø  Thailand has rolled out a mobile app that anyone arriving at an airport must download to help monitor where they have been in the event that they test positive for the virus.


Ø  Vietnam's capital, Hanoi, this week also launched a mobile app to help track cases, and it could be used to enforce quarantines.

 

Ø  Other countries, including South Korea and Israel, are using satellite-based phone tracking for so-called contact tracing to see where infected individuals might have passed SARS-CoV-2 to others.


Ø  China has used a wide range of methods to monitor the health and whereabouts of people and enforce restrictions on movement.

=====================================================

Dear Dr HarshVardhanji,

In the list of the countries mentioned above, other than China, all the rest are very small ( population-wise ) compared to India

For them, mobile-based tracking ( of quarantined persons ), could be an appropriate technology

But , our problem is not so much about “ quarantining “ a few thousand citizen , after they test “ positive “ for Covid-19



Our problem is :

To begin with, from among a huge population ( of 1370 million persons ) , how to “ identify “ those one percent ( 13.7 million ), who are running high temperature and need to be tested, urgently ?


The only way :

     Thermal Imaging software embedded into roadside CCTV cameras  ( with Infrared Night Vision ) all over the cities / towns ( or embedded into cameras mounted on Drones ) + embedded Facial Recognition Software + Software to link each captured face with Aadhar Database ( photo + Biometric ) of all citizen



This combination of hardware and software, will instantly “ identify / detect “any citizen running a high temperature ( as soon as his face is visible on CCTV / Drone based camera ) and

 ,
#  Send him SMS on his mobile to go for VIRUS TEST at the nearest test lab ( giving
    address of that lab ). No need for any separate “authorization “ from anyone . And
    no payment of testing fees ( Govt to DBT to private labs , upon uploading of TEST
    RESULTS on Govt Health Portal )



#  Send SMS to the concerned lab , giving full details of the person


#  Send SMS to all other concerned Government Authorities / Health Portals


#  Repeated “ face image capture “ by different cameras at different times and
    different locations, will track the journey of such an individual . This path will show
    up on the Dashboard of the CENTRAL CONTROL CENTRE for COVID [ 4C ]

[ source : My email of yesterday  :  Sankalp – Sanyanm – Shastra ]





Dear Sir,


The required technology is available off-the-shelf


All that is needed is your GREEN SIGNAL to our Scientists / Technocrats and those Private Sector Companies , which have been installing road-side CCTV cameras for past decade


In an all out war , we cannot afford the luxury of inviting tenders !


In this “Relay Race “, each player need not grasp the baton and then ask of himself :


“ To run or not to run ? “


Any delay in implementing my suggestion and Covid-19 will outrun us !

=======================================================

21 March  2020

hcp@RecruitGuru.com

A Back-breaking Burden ?




In its affidavit concerning NRC ( National Register for Citizens ) , Government has argued :

“ The procedure , which puts the onus on the person claiming to be a citizen to prove the fact, is just, fair and reasonable and has been held so by the courts.

There is a good and sound reason for placing the BURDEN of PROOF upon the person concerned who asserts to be a citizen of a particular country , it contended.

In order to establish citizenship, one may be required to give evidence of ,


Ø  His date of birth
Ø  Place of birth
Ø  Name of his parents
Ø  Their place of birth and citizenship

Sometimes the place of birth of his GRAND-PARENTS may also be relevant like under Section 6A ( 1 ) ( d ) of the Citizenship Act

All these facts would necessarily be within the personal knowledge of the person concerned and not of the authorities

After he has given evidence, the state authorities can verify the facts and rebut them if necessary

If state authorities dispute the claim of citizenship by a person, it will not only be difficult but almost impossible for them to first lead evidence on these points, the affidavit contended “



Without doubt,

“… the Centre was well within its powers to identify illegal migrants and deport them as per law … “


And,


"It is the responsibility of the Centre to detect illegal migrants and follow due process of law in deporting or expelling them “

And,

Such a power conferred by the Foreigners Act, 1946, is absolute and gives unfettered discretion to the government to expel foreigners from India “

 


=========================================================

I suspect there are millions of citizen like me who know the names of their parents but have no clue as to their “ place of birth “ or even their birth-dates !

My parents passed away 48 years ago.


Do I have an option to write “ Do not Know “ against these fields ?

If I do not have such an option, I will be forced to supply FALSE data – which, government has no means to verify !

In fact , my 91 year old sister does not know her birth date !

I am afraid this “ Burden of Proof “ will break somebody’s back or turn India into a “ Nation of Liars “ !


======================================================
21  March  2020

hcp@RecruitGuru.com