A group of data activists has written to the government seeking to stop public and private access to central vehicle databases — Vahan and Sarathi — over concerns that the publicly available information could be misused by “rioters for purposes of targeted violence”.
The letter by the Internet Freedom Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, to the ministry of road transport & highways, ministry of law and the Delhi government, says the possibility of misuse of the vehicle owner’s data has potential of serious security risk.
It suggested people could target vehicles of members of different communities by using their registration numbers to find out personal details.
“In context of recent violent clashes in Delhi, disturbing reports emerged this morning which suggested that a database for vehicle registration called Vahan was exploited by malicious actors in identifying vehicles owned by Muslim vehicles, which were allegedly being burnt down. Although, this has not been confirmed by any formal news sources we feel this brings to light a serious human security risk emerging from the ethos of governing personal data,” the letters, written on Wednesday, said.
The letter also asks the Centre to seek a legal opinion from the law ministry on the legality of the transport ministry’s bid to monetise the databases.
The transport ministry currently stores data related to licences and registrations in Sarathi and Vahan — the government’s web-based databases of all driving licences and vehicle registrations.
The information, including the name and addresses of the vehicle owners, can be searched through the portal without any passwords or security checks.
Numerous vehicles were torched in the Delhi riots. There is, however, no direct link with the arson and the use of the Vahan and sarathi portals.
The ministry of road transport and highways did not respond to HT’s queries. An official from the ministry of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said, requesting not to be named: “This is a pre-existing database and though we do not have any immediate intention to change it, the National Informatics Centre will have to take a call.”