Why does UIDAI need to collect meta data of citizens, asks Supreme Court

Meta data is a set of data that describes and gives information about other data

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) why it needed to collect ‘meta data’ of personal transactions of citizens which go for Aadhaar authentication to avail services and benefits.

A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, hearing a clutch of petitions challenging Aadhaar and its enabling 2016 law, was responding to the submission of UIDAI that it collected only “limited technical meta data.” “Why do you (UIDAI) have to retain meta data of personal transacations of persons entered through Aadhaar authentication,” the bench, also comprising Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar,