Privacy Can't Become A Shield Of The Corrupt

Data is the new oil, British mathematician Clive Humby said over a decade ago. Nearly all digital corporations today are built on data and it’s no surprise that every political party too appreciates the potential rich returns from knowing its voters intimately. As technology transforms the way we live, whom we elect and how, and the government makes a determined push to make Aadhaar an omnipresent feature of the lives of Indians, India suddenly finds itself in the middle of a heated controversy around data abuse by its two principal political parties. india today’s SHWETA PUNJ and SANDEEP UNNITHAN caught up with Union Minister for Information Technology RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD to hear his views on how safe our data is—with Facebook or UIDAI. Excerpts from the interview:

WHAT CAN WE EXPECT IN THE NEW DATA PROTECTION LAW?

We have set up a committee under Justice Srikrishna for a real robust data protection law. We will certainly have the draft law for data protection ready before the 2019 elections.

THIS DATA PROTECTION CONTROVERSY COMES AT A TIME WHEN SAFETY AND PRIVACY CONCERNS ARE BEING RAISED ABOUT AADHAAR.

Aadhaar under the UPA did not have any statutory backing. Aadhaar under NDA is backed by parliamentary law giving due right to privacy with tough privacy measures. Even if I, as an IT minister, disclose my biometrics for unauthorised use, I can be prosecuted. We do close to six crore authentications a day. If a bank asks for information on Aadhaar, it will only confirm the identity and not know the purpose for which it is being sought.

WHY IS THE GOVERNMENT LINKING AADHAAR WITH SERVICES?

Aadhaar cards were linked to bank accounts after money-laundering rules were upheld by the Supreme Court. If an account with slush money is linked to your biometrics, you cannot deny it is your account. Eighty crore bank accounts and 30 crore Indians have been linked to Aadhaar without objection.

CONSIDERING THE GOVERNMENT WILL HAVE SO MUCH DATA, SHOULDN’T IT OFFER GREATER DATA PROTECTION?

An Aadhaar card has only basic information, not my medical record, religion, education or information through which I can be profiled. But the system has my biometrics. There is a lot of misconception about Aadhaar. Its biggest opponents are those who introduced the Right to Information. The poor have no objection.