India goes digital

SCREENSHOTS - http://imgur.com/a/k9mCf (read notes below)

For people who have negative opinions about this, hold on. There's more to the DigitalLocker than you think. I tried using this the day it launched (a few weeks ago). Here are a few things for people who haven't tried it.

1.) Apart from storing documents, the other important feature is to share documents with entities (seems like both govt and private). Right now in India, for anything new you want to signup for in the offline world, you are usually asked for multiple ID and address proofs. This site has a feature to share stored documents when entities request for it. So you get document requests from entities (just like Facebook friend requests) and you approve them to share the documents required. Way better than having to carry xerox copies to the office of the entity.

2.) It also looks like entities can issue you documents. If implemented, then we wouldn't have to about carrying and safe-guarding physical copies of documents. I have about 20-30 physical documents I need to safe-guard and more than a dozen marks cards from college. Imagine just receiving a notification that the document for your new insurance policy has been received in your digital locker? Ah such minimalistic life.

3.) Love the simple Aadhaar-based login process. That is so layman-friendly. Entered my Aadhaar card number to get an OTP to login. Most Indian govt sites have ridiculous rules about setting passwords - all of which I cannot remember at all. Even worse changing your account email or password on those sites is a nightmare. To change the email address on the Service Tax website, I have to write a paper-based request to the authority.

4.) You can store any document you want to. This isn't limited to government issued IDs. There's an "other" category when uploading.

5.) I've been using Dropbox to store scanned copies of my family's important documents. It has come handy many times. It is the govt offering to digitally store govt-issued documents. Why would I bother about privacy? I'm glad they made this.

6.) About the SSL cert: AFAIK they seem to have broken the site during a recent update. SSL was fine during the launch day. Oh, and when the Indian govt website specifies "beta" version - they literally mean it. And this site isn't as bad as booking a Railway tatkal ticket on IRCTC, for which there are tutorials and videos on how to use the site. I've forgotten my IRCTC username/password again and I've exhausted all mobile numbers in the house to signup for new account. I'll have to get a new sim just to book a railway ticket next time.

Mailed the DigitalLocker team my concerns about the 10mb limit and also offered to send code contributions if it was opensource. I got back a very quick reply:

  It is not a open source project, but you can contribute by your valuable suggestions as it is still running in beta Version.
  
  Regarding Storage space we have noted the issue. Inconvenience regretted.
  We shall review and resolve the same as soon as possible.

Besides it's been mentioned in the FAQ, that the storage limit will be increased to 1gb in the future https://digitallocker.gov.in/Resources/FAQ-Digital_Locker_v0...

[EDIT: I've edited my comment multiple times to add more information]

A Hacker heaven..

For people having issues with CA - It is not the CA that is the problem (it is not a famous CA, but is known, at least by Chrome), the problem is that they probably shortened the domain too late and are still using the old configuration. Use the URL below, the certificate works fine. It's just for the wrong domain:

https://digitallocker.gov.in/

Edit: I'm unable to login though. I get the OTP from Aadhaar just fine, but the website doesn't seem to be able to verify it.

Edit 2: It worked after a couple of tries. Looking at the trail, it is probably some issue with Aadhaar and not this website. It does look really neat. You basically upload copies of your IDs and then agencies can request it. You get to approve. They are pulling UID data so it's quick to set up. I think the point of this is that you can link all other IDs with UID so people just have to ask for you Aadhaar number, no paper ID copies or forms. I wish they just integrated this into UID system like they link bank accounts, that way developers would have a single UIDAI API for identity, bank accounts and other IDs.

This Connection is Untrusted

You have asked Firefox to connect securely to digilocker.gov.in, but we can't confirm that your connection is secure.

I am getting the certificate error even at the link you provided ( using Google Chrome on Ubunut 14.04 ).