This is a record of the proceedings in the Supreme Court bench hearings on Feb 13, 2018 on the Constitutional validity of Aadhaar. You may read the previous days here: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9 Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal continued his arguments on behalf of the petitioners by reading out the definition and purpose of a biometric database from the National ID law of Israel. He pointed out the voluntary nature and consent of the ID cards handed to the residents. (The new IBI Regulations on June 1, 2017 make facial recognition information and fingerprints from which biometric data was derived mandatory for the issuance of an identification document. Facial recognition data is saved in a special biometric database, but if the individual does not consent to storing fingerprints, the fingerprint record is erased after the identification document is issued.) Mr. Sibal further noted that there was no provision for metadata in their law. Mr. Sibal then referred to the Aadhaar Act and its mandatory and lifelong anture and described that consent is illusory. While the database can only be used for purposes authorized by law, Mr. Sibal pointed out how the purpose of 'national security' is misused in India. Some NGOs are targetted for national security. He drew attention to the regulation that says Aadhaar can be deactivated for national security purposes. (this would deprive a person of a mandatory document - civil death) Mr. Sibal's first proposition- Information is power.…
