Digital Freedom

cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/159345

With financial transactions now tied to a person’s Aadhaar number, which is linked to biometrics, critics argue that this opens the door to government surveillance. It provides the government with an unprecedented ability to monitor the financial activities of individuals in real-time. The threat of this data being used for political or discriminatory purposes cannot be ruled out.

As the UPI system stores colossal amounts of sensitive data, it becomes an attractive target for hackers and malicious entities. Data breaches in such a system can have catastrophic effects on individuals whose financial and biometric data could be compromised.

The forced adoption of digital payments tied to biometric data can also be seen as an infringement on the right to autonomy and freedom of choice. People should have the option to engage in financial transactions without necessarily tying these to their biometrics.