The role of digital identity wasn’t limited to national identity, but also extended to other services such as vaccine certificates. There was a debate on the usage of digital identity to issue vaccine certificates and allow data sharing between countries using this digital identity. This is already in force with several countries sharing their vaccine certificate data with each other through standard application sharing interfaces.“We need to refocus the discussion around vaccine certificates to the fundamental questions of equity, liberty and exclusion that these proposals raise. It is likely that vaccine certificates will accelerate the adoption of digital identity programmes by governments globally and may enable the permanent entrenching of centralised and mandatory identity systems, that have been designed without adequate consultation and the function creep they may enable. They may also distract from the pressing need to focus on achieving global vaccination. History is testament to systems designed as a temporary measure getting entrenched in our society – negatively impacting the rights of individuals,” argued Jhalak M Kakkar of the National Law University in Delhi. Function creep is what happens when we use technology and systems in ways beyond the original purpose, particularly when the new purpose results in invasion of privacyIn this context, it was argued at the round table that the idea of a single unique identity, that is universal, becomes the basis for establishing and verifying the identity of individuals and for issuing functional ID documents including bank cards, health insurance cards.However, a researcher with Free Software Movement of India, Srinivas Kodali underscored that in India there were multiple IDs. “There is a functional ID for voting; there is a function ID for a driver’s license; there is a birth certificate; a passport. There are multiple forms of identities and none of them are unique. I am human and am unique, but the manifestation may not be unique. The idea of having one single identity does not make sense. We need to push for diverse modes of identification.”“We need to have standards for identity to be unique and universal. I think, by pushing the idea of a universal standard, you are taking away the power from the individual and giving it away to the nation states, which we individuals have fought for,” added Kodali.Digital Identity in IndiaThe overarching reach of the digital identity platform in India, Aadhaar, made several people approach the Supreme Court on the issue of privacy and surveillance. The apex court, indeed, found an issue with Aadhaar and ruled that there should not be any private sector access to Aadhaar data. The court had ruled that the Aadhaar had an unconstitutional interference in an individual’s fundamental right to privacy.The Supreme Court judgment in Aadhaar influenced other nations which were deciding to implement similar ID solutions like Aadhaar. In case of Jamaica, the Jamaican court had agreed with Justice DY Chandrachud’s minority judgement in the Aadhaar case and shut down Jamaica’s plans of digital identity.“Constitutional guarantees cannot be compromised by vicissitudes of technology,” Justice Chandrachud had stated in the Aadhaar case. He called it a “fraud on the Constitution”.Even in Kenya, the Kenyan activists were able to stall the roll out of Kenya’s digital identity Huduma Namba without a data protection law in Kenyan courts.In India, the digital identification system put marginalised communities at a greater disadvantage especially during the pandemic as essential services were linked to Aadhaar authentication. More than 10 crore citizens including many homeless, elderly, disabled and transgender people have been left out of the system. Right to Food activists in Jharkhand have listed more than 200 deaths as a result of hunger due to denial of ration and social security pension because of the problems in linking ration cards to Aadhaar, internet failure and biometric mismatch.Moreover, though the digital identity is to help with digitisation, it has created several surveillance infrastructure which has been misused by nation states. In case of India, Aadhaar has been used for profiling Indians in several states. The police too use it in their technology systems such as Crime and Criminal Tracking Networks and Systems (CCTNS) and Interoperable Criminal Justice System (ICJS) to manage criminal justice system. It enabled people to selectively identify vehicles owned by Muslims from the government database during the communal pogrom in Delhi.The UN itself did not endorse any of the discussions at the committee, but facilitated the discussion between various private sector parties. There is a large interest and opposition to digital identity across the globe.
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