A Guide to Litigating Identity Systems
states of the country: “While Aadhaar coverage speed has been
exemplary, with over a billion Aadhaar cards being distributed, some
states report authentication failures: estimates include 49 percent failure
rates for Jharkhand, 6 percent for Gujarat, 5 percent for Krishna District in
Andhra Pradesh and 37 percent for Rajasthan.”173
c) The dissent of the Indian Supreme Court cites a report titled “Biometric
Recognition: Challenges & Opportunities” by the National Academy of
Science USA, which states that biometric recognition systems are
inherently probabilistic because biometric characteristics can change as
a result of various factors such as “changes in age, environment, disease,
stress, occupational factors, training and prompting, intentional
alterations, socio-cultural aspects of the situation in which the
presentation occurs, changes in human interface with the system, and so
on.”174
d) The Kenyan High Court acknowledges that a “lack of or poor biometric
data, such as fingerprints” can lead to failures resulting in exclusion from
the national identity system and its attendant services.175 This finding
provided a partial basis for the High Court’s determination that a clear
regulatory framework must be created in Kenya regulating the manner in
which to enrol individuals with “poor biometrics” into the system.176
49. Biometric authentication failures have the potential to impact marginalised
populations more often.
a) The dissent of the Indian Supreme Court in the Aadhaar judgment cites
excerpts from academic scholarship on the topic, including books that
state the error rates in biometric systems are particularly high for the
young, the aged, disabled persons, as well as persons suffering from
173 Government of India, Economic Survey 2016–17 at 194.
174 Joseph N. Pato and Lynette I. Millett, eds., Biometric Recognition: Challenges & Opportunities (National Academy of
Science USA, 2010), https://www.nap.edu/read/12720/chapter/1
175 Huduma Namba Judgment, Nubian Rights Forum and Others v. The Hon. Attorney General, Consolidated Petitions
No. 56, 58 & 59 of 2019 ¶ 1012 (2020).
176 Huduma Namba Judgment, ¶ 1012 (2020).
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