Namaste from Mumbai, where the privacy world is abuzz and waiting with bated breath for a landmark ruling in the Aadhaar (India’s digital identity) case before the Supreme Court.

At the commencement, a nine-judge bench was determining whether the right to privacy is a fundamental right under the Indian Constitution. The decision to refer the matter to a larger bench was taken by the apex court while hearing challenges to the validity of Aadhaar. The nine-judge bench re-examined whether two earlier rulings — a 1954 judgment in MP Sharma’s case and 1962 verdict in Kharak Singh’s case — were the correct expressions of the Constitution. In the earlier cases, it was held that there was no fundamental right to privacy, in contradiction of even earlier cases. The bench remarked that the right to privacy can never be an absolute entitlement: “Right to privacy cannot be so absolute and overarching that the state is prohibited from legislating restrictions on it.”

A ruling was required on this fundamental privacy issue before Aadhaar cases can resume. There are currently 20 petitions pending in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of Aadhaar, alleging that it violated a citizen's right to privacy by linking biometric data to activities.

At the same time, some tech companies, such as Uber, Ola and Airbnb, are considering using Aadhaar, and there are increasing calls for the identity system to be utilized for wider-ranging services, such as online courses. Aadhaar was developed primarily to facilitate access to government services.

Rumors persist that an overarching data protection law for India will be announced soon. Such a law might add some clarity to the issues currently being debated at such a high level.

Excitement is building as we gear up for the 2017 Asia Privacy Forum next week. The Forum is one and half days, plus a GDPR workshop. We have a great lineup of speakers on topics ranging from APEC's CBPRs to innovation in data, privacy by design and smart cities of India, as well as keynote speakers from Alibaba and Facebook. If you are registered, congratulations! Come say “hi” at the networking sessions.

We are also hosting a booth at the RSA conference, which is running consecutively, so, if you are at RSA, drop by the booth and say hello.