UIDAI to Supreme Court: Google, card lobby want Aadhaar to fail

The UIDAI on Tuesday made a startling charge before the Supreme Court that Google and the smart card lobby did not want Aadhaar to succeed because if UID emerges as a foolproof way to authenticate identity, they will be out of business.
Appearing for the Unique Identity Authority of India, senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi told a CJI-headed Constitution bench that a campaign had been unleashed that Aadhaar should’ve been like smart cards, a Europe-based commercial venture. “If Aadhaar succeeds, smart cards will be out of business. Google does not want it. Smart card lobby does not want Aadhaar to succeed. That’s why these allegations are being made,” he said.

“The real apprehension is that data available can be used to influence election outcome. Will democracy survive if data is used to influence the electoral outcome? We have seen it,” Justice Chandrachud said, alluding to the recent controversy surrounding political consultant Cambridge Analytica’s alleged abuse of citizens’ data to influence the the 2016 US election and its reported attempt to influence the outcome of the Brexit referendum.

Some of the petitioners, who have challenged the validity of Aadhaar Act, had also mentioned that instead of Aadhaar authentication sourced from UIDAI, which stored huge meta data about citizens’ biometric and demographic details, it would be better to put whatever data was needed for authentication purpose in a smart card, like credit or debit cards, for authentication by swiping.