A lot of debate is going around the Government’s Aadhaar scheme where it questions citizens right to privacy.
In this week’s hearing, one of the UIDAI official said to the Supreme Court that it is “technically impossible” to spy on citizens using Aadhaar number.
People in opposition of the programme say that the mandating the number makes it a “totalitarian state” (state regulating every aspect of the public and private life wherever possible) which would give the government the power to track citizens in real-time.
The additional solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued that nothing is private in the online era…also it is impossible even if the Government wants to says Mehta before the nine – judge bench who is considering whether privacy is a fundamental right of every citizen.
Mehta also informed the Court that a 10 – member committee headed by former top court judge Justice BN Shrikrishna set up to examine the issue and draft a bill on data protection.
Throughout the privacy case the Government has insisted that privacy is valuable and common law right but it cannot be a fundamental right. Attorney General KK Venugopal said not all aspects of privacy can be elevated to the status of a fundamental rightThe Government says that if a person can share their personal details with game players like Apple, then why not with Government?
Another privacy case is going parallel where a petition has been filed against the private companies like WhatsApp and Facebook, where users share their personal details like photographs and messages.
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