A Guide to Litigating Identity Systems USES OF BIOMETRIC DATA: DATA SHARING WITH SECURITY AGENCIES 41. Identity systems can aid in mass surveillance because identity system data may be shared with or accessed by state security agencies, which amounts to a disproportionate interference with the right to privacy, and may also increase the risk of other human rights violations. a) The Mauritian Supreme Court noted its concern with the relative ease with which government, as well as private, actors could access fingerprint data stored in the Mauritian identity system.137 In that system, for example, police would have been able to access identity system data for the very broad purposes of “the prevention or detection of crime, the apprehension or prosecution of offenders on the assessment or collection of any tax, duty or any imposition of a similar nature” without judicial oversight.138 b) The majority opinion in the Aadhaar judgment finds issue with a provision of the Aadhaar system’s legislation that allowed for the disclosure of data in the interest of national security, arguing that the provision would need to be changed by increasing the rank of security services officers who determine when data is to be shared and involving a judicial officer in the decision.139 137 Madhewoo, 2015 SCJ 177 at 33. 138 Madhewoo, 2015 SCJ 177 at 32–33. 139 Aadhaar Judgment, ¶ 349 at 424. 34

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