Information Privacy Risk
What sets Aadhaar apart from other examples (whether it is the Registration Act or the Social Security Number in USA) is that our biometric and demographic data are being stored in a centralised database and a unique number is associated with our biometric and other information. Further, this unique number is being sought to be ‘seeded’ (added as a new data field) with every possible – public and private – database in the country.
Why is that a problem?
Today, information about my life is stored in different data silos – train travel, air travel, bank account, mobile phone, employment history, health and so on. The only person who can easily construct a full picture of my life from these disjointed data silos is me. This is because only I have the access to these disconnected data silos.
If the Aadhaar number is ‘seeded’ into every database, it integrates these data silos. Aadhaar becomes the bridge across the hitherto disconnected data silos with information about my life. I lose control over who can reconstruct a profile of my life. People in government (who I have not authorised) will be able to ‘profile’ me, by pulling in information from various databases using that single identifier. Just the possibility of such profiling is likely to lead to self-censorship and is likely to stifle dissent. more