Yesterday the Supreme Court pronounced a historic judgement on the constitutionality of the Aadhaar, biometric programme. We urge people to read this statement by our friends at Rethink Aadhaar that contains a considered public response to it. Rethink Aadhaar’s statement clearly sets out that there is a need for sustained engagement on the issue of digital identity and its impact on welfare programs and personal liberty. As an organisation we hope to support others like Rethink Aadhaar on the frontlines and grow our work as per our statement on Nov. 27, 2017.
In addition to supporting others, IFF has been engaging on the issue of privacy and data protection by #SaveOurPrivacy (www.saveourprivacy.in) which is an important way to tackle the menace of Aadhaar. We strongly believe in the need for privacy protections and are concerned with surveillance and profiling. In the past we have done advocacy including support for privacyisaright.in, an intervention in cases on Whatsapp-FB data sharing & Right to be Forgotten, sending a legal notice to the Govt. on the Social Media Communication Hub. We have also participated in several government consultations especially by the telecom regulator TRAI underscoring the need to protect your privacy rights. Much of our work is documented in statements available in the post archives and our social media handles.
Yes, we can do better in future, and we remain open to feedback and suggestions on how we can support a diverse set of citizen movements and activists; engage much more effectively through the lens of informational autonomy and personal liberty. So write to us at [email protected]