Privacy and security of aadhaar: A computer science perspective

The article investigates the privacy and security issues of Aadhaar from a technology point of view. Specifically, the possibilities of identification and authentication without consent using the Aadhaar number or biometric data, and unlawful access of Aadhaar data in the central repository are examined. The analysis suggests that privacy protection in Aadhaar will require an independent third party that can play the role of an online auditor; study of several modern tools and techniques from computer science; and strong legal and policy frameworks that can address the specifics of authentication and identification in a modern digital setting.