Topic Of The Day:-“All That Data That Aadhaar Captures”
Predictably enough, the recent Supreme Court order affirming that privacy is a fundamental right sent Aadhaar’s public-relations machine into damage control mode. After denying the right to privacy for years, the government promptly changed gear and welcomed the judgment. Ajay BhushanPandey, CEO of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), suddenly asserted, “The Aadhaar Act is based on the premise that privacy is a fundamental right.” He also clarified that the judgment would not affect Aadhaar as the required safeguards were already in place.
Types of information
The fact of the matter is that Aadhaar, in its current form, is a major threat to the fundamental right to privacy. The nature of this threat, however, is poorly understood.There is a common perception that the main privacy concern with Aadhaar is the confidentiality of the Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR). This is misleading for two reasons. One is that the CIDR is not supposed to be inaccessible. On the contrary, the Aadhaar Act 2016 puts in place a framework for sharing most of the CIDR information. The second reason is that the biggest danger, in any case, lies elsewhere.To understand this, it helps to distinguish between three different types of private information: biometric information, identity information and personal information. The first two are formally defined in the Aadhaar Act, and protected to some extent. Aadhaar’s biggest threat to privacy, however, relates to the third type of information.In the Aadhaar Act, biometric information essentially refers to photograph, fingerprints and iris scan, though it may also extend to “other biological attributes of an individual” specified by the UIDAI. The term “core biometric information” basically means biometric information minus photograph, but it can be modified once again at the discretion of the UIDAI.Identity information has a wider scope. It includes biometric information but also a person’s Aadhaar number as well as the demographic characteristics that are collected at the time of Aadhaarenrolment, such as name, address, date of birth, phone number, and so on.The term “personal information” (not used in the Act) can be understood in a broader sense, which includes not only identity information but also other information about a person, for instance where she travels, whom she talks to on the phone, how much she earns, what she buys, her Internet browsing history, and so on.Coming back to privacy, one obviousconcern is the confidentiality of whatever personal information an individual may not wish to be public or accessible to others. The Aadhaar Act puts in place some safeguards in this respect, but they are restricted to biometric and identity information.
MEANINGS AND WORDS
1) Affirming
Meaning: State emphatically or publicly.
Example: He affirmed the country’s commitment to peace
Synonyms: Declare, State
2) Asserted
Meaning: State a fact or belief confidently and forcefully.
Example: The company asserts that the cuts will not affect development.
Synonyms: Declare, Maintain
3) Perception
Meaning: Intuitive understanding and insight.
Example: He wouldn’t have accepted,’ said my mother with unusual perception.
Synonyms: Insight, Percipience
4) Discretion
Meaning: The quality of behaving or speaking in such a way as to avoid causing offence or revealing confidential information.
Example: She knew she could rely on his discretion.
Synonyms: Circumspection, Care
Antonyms: Indiscretion, Rashness
5) Demographic
Meaning: Relating to the structure of populations.
Example: The demographic trend is towards an older population.
6) Obvious
Meaning: Easily perceived or understood; clear, self-evident, or apparent.
Example: Unemployment has been the most obvious cost of the recession
Synonyms: Clear, Evident, Apparent
Antonyms:Imperceptible, Inconspicuous
