A Guide to Litigating Identity Systems
c) The Kenyan High Court explicitly references the risk of identity theft as a
form of misuse or unauthorised access, giving rise to the data protection
requirements the court imposes on the Kenya national identity system.113
d) The Kenyan High Court prohibits the collection of GPS coordinates as part
of the national identity system, referencing the ability to use such data to
“track and monitor people without their knowledge.”114 The other form of
data prohibited by the court – DNA information – could similarly be used
for “negative profiling of individuals for ulterior motives.”115
39. The storage of biometric data constitutes a disproportionate interference
with the right to privacy because it increases the state’s ability to engage in
mass surveillance.
a) The Mauritian Supreme Court rejects the centralised storage of fingerprint
data partly because of the ease of access to data by state actors
without judicial oversight.116 The court states that judicial oversight over
interference with the legal and constitutional rights of citizens is a
“fundamental principle of the rule of law” and its absence is
“inconceivable.”117
b) The majority in the Aadhaar judgment rejects mass surveillance concerns
by relying partly on the use of data silos in the system to prevent
improper access of data outside the Aadhaar scheme’s purpose.118 Data
silos are collections of information within the system that are isolated
from and inaccessible to other parts of the system.119
113
Huduma Namba Judgment, ¶ 880.
114
Huduma Namba Judgment, ¶ 768.
115
Huduma Namba Judgment, ¶ 767.
116
Madhewoo, 2015 SCJ 177 at 33.
117
Madhewoo, 2015 SCJ 177 at 33.
118
See Aadhaar Judgment, ¶ 208 at 285.
119
See Garrett Alley, “What are data silos,” Alooma (20 December 2018) at https://www.alooma.com/blog/what-aredata-silos
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