Google wants Aadhaar to fail, UIDAI tells SC

Defending Aadhaar, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) claimed before the Supreme Court on Tuesday that private entities, including smart card companies and Internet giant Google, don’t want the 12-digit biometric ID system to succeed and rejected the contention that data collected for the project can be used to create voters’ profiles to rig elections.

During a hearing on the cases challenging the constitutional validity of Aadhaar, Chief Justice Dipak Misra remarked that democracy would be at peril if data collected during Aadhaar authentication is misused for “influencing the elections.” This apprehension was echoed by Justice DY Chandrachud, a member of the bench hearing the cases.

“The real apprehension is that data available can be used to influence election outcome. Will democracy survive if data is used to influence the electoral outcome? We have seen it,” Justice Chandrachud said, alluding to the recent controversy surrounding political consultant Cambridge Analytica’s alleged abuse of citizens’ data to influence the 2016 US election and its reported attempt to influence the outcome of the Brexit referendum.The bench is hearing a set of petitions calling the Aadhaar scheme a gross violation of an individual’s fundamental right to privacy.

Rakesh Dwivedi, senior advocate appearing for UIDAI, countered the judge’s view and submitted that the algorithm used by UIDAI for Aadhaar was different from the one used by Google or Cambridge Analytica. He cautioned the judges from being prejudiced.