India’s Supreme Court says #privacy is an intrinsic right in blow to government - The Washington Post
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In a blow to the Indian government’s efforts to roll out the world’s biggest #biometric_database on its billion citizens, India’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that privacy was a fundamental right for people.
Over the past few years, the government has aggressively pushed to compile the database, known as #Aadhar, by sending officials out to remote villages to take iris scans and fingerprints. To ensure complete enrollment, the government this year put out several notices restricting access to essential government services for those not part of the system.
The unanimous ruling by the nine-judge bench will have huge implications in a number of ongoing cases involving Aadhar, which means base or foundation in Hindi.
It could put an end to the government’s efforts of making enrollment mandatory. It also guarantees privacy for Indian citizens as an intrinsic right — removing it could have had far reaching implications beyond biometric IDs for the daily lives of Indians.