Editing Biometrics (section)

=== India's national ID program ===
India's national ID program called [[Aadhaar]] is the largest biometric database in the world. It is a biometrics-based digital identity assigned for a person's lifetime, verifiable<ref>{{cite news |title=Aadhaar data kept, processed only on own secure servers: UIDAI |newspaper=The Economic Times |date=30 August 2017 |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/aadhaar-data-kept-processed-only-on-own-secure-servers-uidai/articleshow/60295134.cms |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207134042/https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/aadhaar-data-kept-processed-only-on-own-secure-servers-uidai/articleshow/60295134.cms |archive-date=7 December 2017}}</ref> online instantly in the public domain, at any time, from anywhere, in a paperless way. It is designed to enable government agencies to deliver a retail public service, securely based on [[biometric]] data ([[fingerprint]], [[iris scan]] and face photo), along with [[demographic data]] (name, age, gender, address, parent/spouse name, [[Mobile telephone numbering in India|mobile phone number]]) of a person. The data is transmitted in encrypted form over the internet for authentication, aiming to free it from the limitations of physical presence of a person at a given place.

About 550&nbsp;million residents have been enrolled and assigned 480&nbsp;million Aadhaar [[national identification number]]s as of 7 November 2013.<ref>{{cite news |title=Aadhaar scheme does not violate fundamental rights, says UIDAI |publisher=Zee News |date=22 October 2013 |url=http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/aadhaar-scheme-does-not-violate-fundamental-rights-says-uidai_884850.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131025053446/http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/aadhaar-scheme-does-not-violate-fundamental-rights-says-uidai_884850.html |archive-date=25 October 2013}}</ref> It aims to cover the entire population of 1.2&nbsp;billion in a few years.<ref name="Gelb">"Building a Biometric National ID: Lessons for Developing Countries from India's Universal ID Program", Alan Gelb and Julia Clark, The Center for Global Development, October 2012, {{cite web |url=http://www.cgdev.org/doc/full_text/GelbClarkUID/1426583.html |title=Building a Biometric National ID: Lessons for Developing Countries from India's Universal ID Program |access-date=2013-02-27 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917181612/https://www.cgdev.org/doc/full_text/GelbClarkUID/1426583.html |archive-date=17 September 2018}}</ref> However, it is being challenged by critics over privacy concerns and possible transformation of the state into a surveillance state, or into a [[Banana republic]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/aadhaar-fir-are-we-living-in-banana-republic-asks-shatrughan-sinha-1797330|title=Aadhaar FIR: "Are We Living in Banana Republic?" Asks Shatrughan Sinha|website=ndtv.com|access-date=6 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180203005827/https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/aadhaar-fir-are-we-living-in-banana-republic-asks-shatrughan-sinha-1797330|archive-date=3 February 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/giving-aadhaar-the-finger/articleshow/62675842.cms|title=Giving Aadhaar the finger - Times of India|newspaper=The Times of India|date=28 January 2018 |access-date=6 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180213131346/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/giving-aadhaar-the-finger/articleshow/62675842.cms|archive-date=13 February 2018}}</ref>§ The project was also met with mistrust regarding the safety of the social protection infrastructures.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Masiero|first=Silvia|date=September 2018|title=Explaining Trust in Large Biometric Infrastructures: A Critical Realist Case Study of India's Aadhaar Project|journal=The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries|volume=84|issue=6|pages=e12053|doi=10.1002/isd2.12053|url=https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/35413|doi-access=free}}</ref> To tackle the fear amongst the people, India's supreme court put a new ruling into action that stated that privacy from then on was seen as a fundamental right.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gemalto.com/govt/customer-cases/aadhaar|title=Aadhar project in India: 2018 facts and trends|last=Gemalto|date=1 July 2018|website=Gemalto|access-date=8 October 2018}}</ref> On 24 August 2017 this new law was established.