World’s largest digital ID plan gets top India court backing

Bloomberg

India’s top court has refused to scrap the world’s largest biometric database, upholding the validity of the sprawling digital-identity program but imposing restrictions on its use — including preventing the government from sharing citizens’ data with private companies.
Four out of five Supreme Court judges said the program is constitutionally sound for the distribution of state-sponsored welfare subsidies in a country where nearly a quarter of the 1.3 billion-strong population is poor. However, it cannot be made mandatory for opening bank accounts or providing mobile-phone connections, Justice A.K. Sikri told the courtroom, though it is required for Indians paying income tax.
Under the Aadhaar programme, a unique 12-digit identification number is assigned to Indians after collecting their biometric data and photographs. With the top court’s backing, the government can continue to expand its identification system for state subsidies and services in line with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals that call for providing an identity for all
by 2030.
The ruling will not significantly hold back Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Digital India’ push to move government services and subsidies into the digital realm. The verdict is also likely to clear up widespread confusion after Indians were asked to link their Aadhaar number to maintain their bank accounts and mobile-phone connections.

Privacy Concerns
The ruling follows petitions by activists and lawyers, who argued the program violates citizens’ privacy and creates a surveillance state by building a central repository for data linked to all services. The government and the programme’s operating authority have denied such claims, saying surveillance using Aadhaar was not possible and that the data was safe.
Justice Sikri, speaking on behalf of three judges, said Aadhaar would not lead to a surveillance state because the data was kept in silos. The program’s invasion of privacy was minimal and served a much larger public interest by providing identities to India’s poor and marginalized citizens, Sikri said.
“After going through the Aadhaar scheme and structure, it is difficult to profile a person on the basis of minimal biometric information collected,” Sikri told the court.
In a dissenting verdict, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said the entire program was unconstitutional and had the potential for misuse and mass surveillance.
Praised by the World Bank, several countries such as the Philippines and Bangladesh have shown interest in replicating the programme. A number of small and large tech companies have also adopted its use for purposes such as user authentication and payment services. The “fairly balanced” judgment heard both sides of the Aadhaar argument, but will still prompt a change by forcing holdouts to finally get an Aadhaar card, said Bedavyasa Mohanty, an associate fellow at the Observer Research Foundation.