India’s extraordinary attempt to give every resident a biometric ID, the Aadhaar project, has just been declared constitutional -- in part -- by the country’s Supreme Court. It was hard to imagine any other outcome; too much time and money had been spent on Aadhaar, and too many of India’s poorest people had waited patiently in line for their chance at some form of proof of identity. But the decision, coming as it did after the court last year asserted that Indians have a right to privacy, is nevertheless fascinating. It tries to walk a line between Indians’ newly asserted privacy rights and the great possibilities opened up by technology -- and in the process tells us a great deal about how such debates are likely to play out across the developing world.

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-09-28/india-s-aadhaar-biometric-system-gets-a-reprieve