Whether the state has the power to enforce linking Aadhaar Card with social media accounts?

  

The Critical overview of State having the power to enforce linking  Aadhaar card with social medias is such as the personal information and privacy would allow the government to misuse the data and target the dissidents and organizations which may have been critical of it

  Threat of information can be misused: 

Section 2 of the AADHAAR ACT17 2016 provides certain definition. some of them can be noted at this first stage itself , while other definitions would be mentioned at the appropriate stages.

 a) “AADHAAR NUMBER” means an identification number issued to an individual under sub-section 3 of section 3; 

b) “AADHAAR NUMBER HOLDER” means an individual who has been issued an Aadhaar number under this act ;

 Biometric Information deemed to be sensitive personal information – the biometric information collected and stored in electronic form, in accordance with this Act and Regulations made thereunder, shall be deemed to be “Electronic Record” and “sensitive personal data or information” and the Provisions contained in the INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ACT 200018 (21 of the 2000) and the rules made thereunder shall apply to such information, in addition to, and to the extent not in derogation of the provisions of the act.

 Explanation. –For the purpose of this section, the expressions) “Electronic form” shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in clause (r) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Information Technology Act 2000 (21 of 2000 ) b) “ Electronic Record” shall have the same meaning assigned to it in the clause(t) of sub-section (1) of Section 2 of the Information Technology Act ,2000(21 of 2000) 

 c) “Sensitive Personal data or information” shall have the same meaning as assigned to it inclause of three of the explanation to section 43A of the Information Technology Act 2000 (21 of 2000) 

To put in Nutshell , provisions of the Aadhaar act are perceived by the respondents as giving away vital information about the residents to the states not only in the form of biometrics but also about the movement as well as varied kind of transaction which a resident would enter into from time to time . the threat is in the form of profiling the citizens by the state on one hand and also misuse thereof by private agencies whether it is an enrolling agency or requesting agency or even private bodies mentioned in Section 5719 of the Act .

 In the essence, it is said and stated that not only data of aforesaid nature is stored by the CIDR, Which as the threat of being leaked, it can also be misused by nonstate actors. In other words, it is sought to be highlighted that there is no assurance of any data protection at any level. 

• By enabling private entities to use the Aadhaar Card authentication platform, the citizens right to informational privacy is violated in as much as the citizens is compelled to “report” his/her actions to the state

 • Even where a person is availing of a subsidy , benefit or service from the state, mandatory authentication through the Aadhaar Card platform violates the right to informational privacy.

 • In a digital Society an individual has the right to protect himself by controlling the dissemination of personal information, including biometric information. Compelling an individual to establish his identity by planting her biometric at multiple points of service violates privacy involving the person

• The seeding of Aadhaar Card is distinct database enables the content of the information about an individual that is stored in different silos to be aggregated. This enables the state to built complete profiles of individuals violating privacy through the convergence of data

 • with Aadhaar Card being made compulsory for holding a bank account, having a valid pan, holding mutual funds , security admission to school, taking a board examinations, etc.., the citizen has no option but to obtain Aadhaar Card. Even though they obtain compelling the citizen to part with biometric information violates the individual autonomy and dignity. Same like this will happen when the Aadhaar Card is linked with social media. 

Speaking for the vision of our founding fathers, in State of Karnataka & Anr. v. Shri Ranganatha Reddy & Anr20. 17, this Court speaking through Justice Krishna Iyer observed: “The social philosophy of the Constitution shapes creative judicial vision and orientation. Our nation has, as its dynamic doctrine, economic democracy sans which political democracy is chimerical. We say so because our Constitution, in Parts III and IV and elsewhere, ensouls such a value system, and the debate in this case puts precisely this soul in peril….Our thesis is that the dialectics of social justice should not be missed if the synthesis of Parts III and Part IV is to influence State action and court pronouncements. Constitutional problems cannot be studied in a socio-economic vacuum, since socio-cultural changes are the source of the new values, and sloughing off old legal thought is part of the process the new equity

Social media accounts could not be linked with Aadhaar Card , the counsel arguing that the use of twelve- digit identity number should be carefully contemplated given the privacy concerns around it. If it was linked,It would violate the Puttaswamy Aadhaar decision because Justice Sikri’s opinion, which is the majority opinion, holds that linking Aadhaar Card with private platforms is unconstitutional due to two reasons. One, the very objective of the Aadhaar Act is to provide a method to check leakages and provide targeted delivery of subsidies, rations and government benefits. Second is the incredible dangers that emerge from the commercial use of Aadhaar Card. 

So, the linkage does not tie with the objectives of the law. Given that most social media companies are foreign private corporations, such linkage would clearly be unconstitutional. Even consensual linking would be unconstitutional.