This is a record of the proceedings in the Supreme Court bench hearings on the Constitutional validity of Aadhaar, which began on Feb 13, 2018. You may read the previous days' proceedings here: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14, Day 15, Day 16., Day 17 and Day 18. Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora continued her submissions on behalf of Vickram Crishna and others. She handed over a written submission while continuing with the Szabo (ECHR) case and the German Federal Court, which ruled that long periods of data retention violated privacy rights. She argued that there's no purpose limitation in case of Aadhaar. Ms. Arora argued that indiscriminate collection and retention of data is akin to a general warrant, issued without probable cause or suspicion and the same is impermissible without an emergent situation shown by state. She read the Tele2 decision on data retention, where telecom metadata retention even for six months was struck down whereas in Aadhaar all transaction meta data retained for seven years! She elaborated on the chilling effect that is caused by a general and indiscriminate retention of personal and personal transactional data. Ms. Arora read out excerpts from the UN General Assembly Resolution on Right to Privacy in Digital Age, showing power of metadata. She summarized by saying that mass collection of data and aggregation can have a chilling effect on fundamental rights like freedom of speech and expression. Ms. Arora said that in the affidavit filed by the…
