April 17,2018;

On Tuesday, Supreme Court stated that,"It is a “real apprehension” that a leak in the Aadhaar data may sway elections and cause a severe dent to democracy".

Apex Court Bench headed CJI Dipak Misra expressed its fears about the data protection at an age when the private players are increasingly taking over what used to be exclusively governmental functions.

Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, for the Aadhaar’s nodal agency UIDAI, tried to allay the fears of  Constitution Bench by submitting that the Aadhaar Act provides for data protection.

He stated that UIDAI cannot be compared to any Cambridge Analytica. He submitted that the data protection should be “fair, reasonable and just.” In fact, no one could assure 100% data protection.

Senior Advocate further added that UIDAI did not have any learning algorithms, which can aggregate and analyse data. Besides the UIDAI can refuse a private enterprise from becoming a requesting entity under Aadhaar Act.

He stated that whether the requesting entity is a taxi aggregator or a software app, it has to have a prior contract with the UIDAI.

But Justice D.Y. Chandrachud expressed fears about what use the requesting entities themselves would make of the personal data provided to them by the public. SC Judge stated that interaction of the Aadhaar with “outside world” was indeed an area of concern for Court.

Justice Chandrachud gave an example that a Private Hospital, which may have data about the number of visits of its patients and their medication, could possibly pass the information over to insurance or pharma companies for commercial use.

Justice Chandrachud referred to Sections 8(3) and 29(3) of the Aadhaar Act which shows that requesting entities have “identity information” of citizens with them. They get access to this information when individuals come to them for authentication.

Justice Chandrachud  further added that Authorities cannot risk a blinkered vision of reality. Mr. Dwivedi dissuaded the court from giving into the “hyperphobia” of the petitioners challenging the Aadhaar scheme. He reiterated that Aadhaar data was not subject to any kind of analysis and the people should trust the UIDAI with their data.

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