Privacy or National Interest

Those who give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither
liberty nor safety1

The advent of the 21st century has also meant laying down more emphasis by the government
on counter-terrorism measures. As governments do everything they can to combat terrorism
they have inevitably turned to spying on their own citizens. Is national security so important
that it is worth violating the liberty and privacy of a countrys citizens?

Most surveillance laws are passed in panic amidst the terror attacks that necessitate a
response from the government and their sole purpose is to calm the hysteria caused among
the people. People are more afraid of terrorist attacks than cancer even though they are more
likely to die from cancer rather than a terrorist attack.

It is these exaggerated risks that allow our government to take away our freedom under the
garb of national security. Terrorism is an over-blown threat when we consider it to be an
excuse for invading a citizens privacy. Politicians are well aware of this fact and they dazzle
the layman with the whole security theatre and try to gain their admiration even if nothing
substantial has been achieved. Not only has public money been thrown down the drain but
privacy has been compromised as well.

The government, which has gained access to the citizens data on the pretext of national
security and through terrorism surveillance systems, share it with private enterprises which
make us vulnerable to several consumer rights breaches but the same remains unquestioned
because it is for national security.

Various cases have come up since the institution of Aadhaar has been made mandatory in
different fields of public work. These include data leaks from sites of government officials
and data theft from government portals. One such case is when a programming glitch on the
site of Jharkhand directorate of social security revealed the details of more than 10 lakh
citizens2. The data of 1.4 million pensioners out of a total of over 1.6 million had synced their
bank accounts with their Aadhaar numbers to aid direct bank transfers for monthly pensions,

1
Benjamin Franklin, An Historical Review of the Constitution and Government of Pennsylvania(1759)
2
Deccan Chronicle, glitch on Jharkhand govt. website, Aadhaar numbers of over 10 lakh revealed, Deccan
Chronicle, April 23, 2017
the breach of data has now made these personal details publicly available. This breach of
privacy is a result of the lack of data protection law.

A report by the Centre for Internet and Society studied four government databases namely,

the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP)s dashboard

the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA)s portal.

The NREGA portal of Andhra Pradesh Government; and

The online dashboard of Chandranna Bima scheme.

The report surfaced data leak of Aadhaar details of 130-135 million Aadhaar card holders and
also the bank details of 100 million of them3.

A similar instance was when the Aadhaar details of Mr Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain of
India cricket team, was leaked online. Although the UIDAI CEO, Ajay Bhushan Pandey took
the action personally but still privacy of anyone cannot be compromised4.

The working of a biometric database system without a privacy act has forced many people to
write to the government functionaries to frame a legislation, the earliest attempt being made
as early as 2010. Nandan Nilekani, who is one of the architects of Aadhaar, wrote to the
Prime Minister as early as in May 2010 suggesting that there was a need to have a data
protection and privacy law5.

We have a multiplicity of laws which are self-contradictory and also which overlaps and lead
to ambiguity. There is also an urgent need for drafting and formulating a legislation on
privacy law to safeguard the right to privacy of its citizens while dealing with biometric
identity measures. The information about individuals are held by the state in a fiduciary
capacity, theres nothing in the Aadhaar law which allows sharing of the data with private
entities.

3
Amber Sinha and Srinivas Kodali, Information security practices of Aadhaar, the centre for internet and
society (may 1,2017)
4
Press Trust of India,
https://twitter.com/PTI_News/status/846983340284612609?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2F
www.firstpost.com%2Findia%2Fms-dhonis-aadhaar-details-leaked-agency-that-spilled-information-blacklisted-
for-10-years-by-uidai-3359424.html
5
Sunil Abraham, is Aadhaar a breach of privacy, The Hindu, (March 31, 2017)
The right to privacy has to be valued by the government as it is one of the fundamental
rights6. If the government itself breaks the law or violates the fundamental rights of its
citizens, then it breeds contempt for the same.

The internet is the universe of its own. A universe where anything and everything are within
ones reach with just a few clicks. This characteristic of the internet is inconsistent with the
individuals desire for privacy. This desire has in modern times taken the form of the right to
be forgotten. This right will allow an individual to approach a social platform and ask them to
remove certain information in their database concerning him.

At the end of the day, it brings us back to the exact same question. Does privacy have to be
compromised for national interest? The answer is no. Nation states exist for the benefit of the
individual and it is a nations duty to protect the interests of the individual over the interests
of the state. Violating privacy in the name of national interest is nothing but an excuse to
mislead the masses.

Religion is the opium of the people7

The authors of this essay believe that in the 21st century, the term national interest is the
new opium of the people, being put to great use by politicians and big corporations.

6
Indian Constitution, Art. 21
7
Karl Marx, A Contribution to the Hegels Philosophy of Right (1844)