A Guide to Litigating Identity Systems d) The dissent of the Indian Supreme Court 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 health problems.287 e) The Kenyan High Court notes that “there may be a segment of the population who run the risk of exclusion” in particular.288 This statement follows the court’s earlier discussions of the potential changing of biometrics over time,289 as well as difficulties of pastoral communities in obtaining documentation necessary for enrolment.290 68. Identity systems can lead to the perpetuation of pre-existing inequalities and injustices. a) The dissent of the Indian Supreme Court warns that the quest for technology cannot be oblivious to the “real problems” in India 291 and that the digital divide in India can lead to the perpetuation of pre-existing inequalities: “Large swathes of the population have little or no access to the Internet or to the resources required for access to information… While data is the new oil, it still eludes the life of the average citizen. If access to welfare entitlements is tagged to unique data sets, skewed access to informational resources should not lead to perpetuating the pre-existing inequalities of access to public resources.”292 The dissent also cites the opinion of Jean Drèze that the biometric technology underlying identity systems is inappropriate for rural India and a “recipe for chaos,” especially 287 Els J. Kindt, Privacy and Data Protection Issues of Biometric Applications: A Comparative Legal Analysis (Springer, 2013), 363. 288 Huduma Namba Judgment, ¶ 1012. 289 See Huduma Namba Judgment, ¶ 36. 290 See Huduma Namba Judgment, ¶ 1006. 291 Aadhaar Judgment, ¶ 269 of dissent. 292 Aadhaar Judgment, ¶ 10 of dissent. 67

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