Linking Aadhaar to FB, Twitter could expose entire Aadhaar database to foreign countries & non-state actors

Pavan Duggal
Advocate, Supreme Court and expert in cyberlaw

 

I don’t think linking Aadhaar data with social media accounts is a good idea because it will lead to violation of people’s privacy. Another extremely important thing to note regarding users’ privacy is that many social media servers are outside the territorial boundaries of India. So, this means that people’s Aadhaar data will be both amenable and accessible to foreign states as well as non-state actors.

 

One must also understand that India still does not have a data localisation law. So, linking Aadhaar to social media accounts will potentially expose the entire database to foreign actors. And if anything does go wrong with Aadhaar data security, then the sovereignty and integrity of people’s personal data will be compromised.

 

The right to privacy also includes the right to anonymity. The right to anonymity can only be taken away by a procedure established under law. It will definitely lead to a witch-hunt against people as there would be no checks and balances in place. The proposal of the Tamil Nadu government has far more disadvantages than advantages.