A Guide to Litigating Identity Systems PART TWO: BIOMETRICS WHAT IS BIOMETRIC INFORMATION 46. Biometric information, defined in the Aadhaar legislation as “photograph, finger print, iris scan, or such other biological attributes of an individual as may be specified by regulations,”160 is often central to the authentication procedures of identity systems. “Authentication” is a process whereby information contained in an identity system (stored locally on a card and/or accessed from a central database) is used to establish whether someone is who they say they are. Identity systems frequently rely on the collection and storage of biometric data during system registration, which is compared with biometric data collected at the point of a given transaction requiring identity system verification.161 For example, in the Aadhaar system, when an individual seeks to collect a food subsidy, they will be required to provide their Aadhaar number and consent to the collection of their identity information (including biometric data via an iris or fingerprint scan). Their information is sent to the central system authority, which authenticates the identity of the individual by matching the data provided to data stored in the system. The central authority then provides either a positive or negative response to the transmitting vendor. If a positive response is received, the subsidy will be 160 Aadhaar Judgment, Justice K.S. Puttaswamy and Another v. Union of India and Others, Writ Petition (Civil) No. 494 of 2012 & connected matters, ¶ 40 of dissent (2018). 161 See, eg Aadhaar Judgment, ¶ 44 at 51; Madhewoo v. The State of Mauritius and Anor, 2015 SCJ 177 http://ionnews.mu/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Biometric-ID-Card_Madhewoo-vs-State.pdf at 13; Julian J. Robinson v. The Attorney General of Jamaica, Claim No. 2018HCV01788, ¶ 21 (2019). 40