http://www.thedialogue.co/aadhaar-individual-profiling-2/
The Aadhaar for Individual Profiling <http://www.thedialogue.co/author/tejraj/> Tejas Motwani & Neeraj Grover <http://www.thedialogue.co/author/tejraj/> - May 19, 2016 Much has been debated about the privacy concerns surrounding the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016 [the “*AadhaarBill*”]. The purported aim of the Aadhaar Bill is to provide each Indian resident with a unique identification number that would be used to provide government subsidies/ benefits directly to residents. For example, after implementation of this Bill, the LPG subsidy provided by the government would be deposited directly in the bank account of the resident. However, the Bill has been criticized for being arbitrary and self-conflicting. Wedo not intend to reiterate published criticisms of this Bill. In fact, a short note of relevant issues surrounding the Bill was published by PRS Legislative Research and can be accessed here <http://www.prsindia.org/uploads/media/AADHAAR/Aadhaar%20Bill%20Issues%20for%20Consideration%20%2008.03.16.pdf>. The focus of this article is specifically on the most potent albeit less apparent aspect of privacy violation i.e. individual profiling. *“Individual profiling has the potential to flout well settled notions of privacy; but its potency lies in its ability to break open the underlying foundation of democracy”* Individual profiling is the development of knowledge that correlates patterns in human behavior (Hildebrandt, 2009). Knowledge of such correlation of patterns usually assists in prediction of future patterns, thereby effectively predicting human behavior using past correlations as a base. Individual profiling has the potential to flout well settled notions of privacy; but its potency lies in its ability to break open the underlying foundation of democracy. Section 4(3) of the Bill is the basis of major concern. This provision allows for acceptance of the Aadhaar number (or card) as proof of identity. It is important to note that unlike other identification documents issued by the government where producing the document in original is sufficient to establish identity, acceptance of Aadhaar as proof of identity is subject to “authentication” by the Central Identities Data Repository (“*CIDR*”), where all information collected in relation to Aadhaar is stored. The CIDR is under control of the Unique Identification Authority of India (“*UIA*”), which is the relevant authority constituted by the Bill.“Authentication” is the process whereby any entity, including private non-state entities, which require an Aadhaar holder’s identity proof, submit the requisition to CIDR to verify the information provided by the Aadhar holder. CIDR then matches such information with the data available with it and verifies its correctness. After each such verification, the Bill mandates the UIA to maintain a record of the information sought and information provided. *“These provisions together create a regime where details about individual behavior are stored and may be monitored”* These provisions together create a regime where details about individual behavior are stored and may be monitored. For example, if an individual uses Aadhaar as proof of identity for obtaining a mobile phone connection, the telecom company submits a requisition for verification of the same to CIDR, which then verifies the information and provides necessary identity information to the telecom company. The UIA is then mandated to maintain records of the telecom company that sought verification along with the response provided by CIDR. Now, the same individual may use her Aadhaar as identity proof for buying a car, and the car dealer similarly submits requisition for verification of identity of the buyer to CIDR. Thus, the government now has information about the individual’s preference regarding mobile phone and cars. Add up to this, five to ten more requisitions by various entities and we will have an outline which can be correlated to the choice, pattern and behavior of an individual and can be synced to demographic data.Consequently, a pattern of individual preferences can be easily drawn and this may lead to individual profiling. In these circumstances it is pertinent to point out the dangers of profiling. Since, the pattern records preferences of an individual based on the entities which requested for proof of identity,any such pattern in itself is crucial data that could be used to predict emergence of future choices and preferences of such an individual. It has been time and again argued by activists and advocates that such patterns coupled with predictions that it entails, is the data of an individual upon which she has a right to privacy. The reason for allowing privacy over such data is not merely because such data may be intimate to an individual. Perhaps a substantial portion of the population would not care much if a third party could predict each individual’s next choice of phone or automobile or place of vacation. However, the problem occurs when governments can make such predictions. For this gives rise to a potential for governments to make decisions on the basis of the profiling which affect each individual’s choice. *“When the government is aware of the preferences of its electorate, it is prone to abuse such knowledge by manipulating the electorate, by doing activities which connects with those preferences in order to influence the decision making power of individuals”* As one can understand, the collection of various individual profiles can provide information about preferences of individuals in one village, district, city or even a state. For example, a group of individual profiles from a particular city can indicate the automobile preference of residents in that city. Say, the maximum number of individuals in this city, purchased luxury cars in last two years. The government can now use this information for elections to attract voters by providing subsidies while purchasing luxury cars. It is argued that when the government is aware of the preferences of its electorate, it is prone to abuse such knowledge by manipulating the electorate, by doing activities which connects with those preferences in order to influence the decision making power of individuals. Therefore, by using profiling, governments can influence public opinion, which forms the bedrock of democracy. As pointed out in the research by the European Information Society’s FIDIS Consortium(Future Identity in the Information Society), power in a democratic society is always the product of an ability to influence another’s opinion.It is this potential of profiling that has provoked arguments in favor of protecting profiling data. *“There is no effective dispute resolution mechanism in the Bill for actions against UIA for misuse of information gathered through individual profiles”* Instead of preventing such profiling, there are two elements in the current Bill that fuel such profiling by the government.First, the Bill does not exhaustively define the data that is to be collected by UIA for issuing Aadhaar. This leaves it completely to the discretion of the UIA to decide from time to time what they wish to collect, in addition to what has been stated in the Bill. Second, there is no effective dispute resolution mechanism in the Bill for actions against UIA for misuse of information gathered through individual profiles.The only limited protection available is prohibition of recording reasons for which verification of an individual was carried out. However, if UIA breaches this, the provider of data has no right to proceed against UIA unless the authority itself grants permission. In light of the above, as the possible misuse of individual data is high, it is pertinent that the Aadhaar Bill is rethought. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
