SC judgment will ensure subscribers' information protection: Rajan Mathews

The Supreme Court's judgment on the Right to Privacy will ensure subscribers' information is appropriately protected, guarded and used in conformity with transparently disclosed parameters, feels Cellular Operators' Association of India's Director General Rajan S. Mathews.

"This is a welcome move. This clearly identifies the whole issue of privacy. Everybody in the ecosystem now has to ensure that the customers' information are appropriately protected, guarded and used in conformity with transparent disclosing parameters," Mathews told IANS.

The Supreme Court ruling, by a nine-judge bench headed by Chief Justice J.S. Khehar, will have a bearing on the challenge to the validity of the Aadhaar scheme on the grounds of it being violative of the right to privacy.

Speaking about acquiring subscribers by the telecom operators' through its Customer Acquisition System (CAS), by linking with Aadhaar, Mathews said: "Operators will keep enrolling subscribers on the basis of Aadhaar unless we get any other directive from Department of Telecommunications."

Mathews, however, mentioned that operators do not obtain any biometric information of the customers while activating SIM cards through CAS, which is linked to Aadhaar.

--IANS

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