Right to Privacy: Know how Aadhar card is different from US Social Security Number

The Supreme Court is likely to pronounce on Thursday its judgment on the issue whether the right to privacy can be held as a fundamental right or not under the Constitution. A nine-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice (CJI) J S Khehar had on August 2 reserved its verdict after hearing marathon arguments for six days over a period of three weeks, during which submissions were advanced in favor and against the inclusion of the right to privacy as a fundamental right.
The inspiration for aadhar card came from the social security number in the United states. However, there are quite a lot of difference between these two. Know here the difference between the two

Aadhaar is a 12 digit unique-identity number issued to all residents of India based on their biometric and demographic data. The data is collected by the  Unique Identification Authority of India. UIDAI was initially set up by the Government January 2009 and Aadhar number was started distributing in September 2010. The US introduced the Social Security Number (SSN) through an enactment in 1935 for the limited purpose of providing social security benefits during the Great Depression.In 1936, under the Social Security Act, it began using a nine-digit number, the Social Security Number, to track the earnings of workers and compute the amount of social security benefits to be credited to their accounts.

Aadhar and SSN 'Who can apply'

Indian citizens and the people who lived more than 182 days can apply for aadhar card.While for SSN only United States citizens and, immigrants with a work permit can apply for an SSN number.

Aadhaar authenticates a person but the SSN does not.

Aadhaar authenticates a person by matching biometrics with a database for all welfare schemes.The government claims that it will help prevent identity fraud – for example, no one will be able to collect wages or food subsidies in another person’s name. SSN does not verify an individual’s identity.It matches a name with only a limited circumstances, as it was never intended for authentication purposes and has not been built to do this on a national scale. It matches a name and associated Social Security Number against its records only in limited circumstances, such as before issuing a replacement Social Security Number or establishing a claims record.

Aadhaar collects biometrics while The Social Security Number does not.

Aadhaar collects biometrics, which includes the scan of all fingerprints, face and the iris of both eyes.In contrast, SSN is printed on a small paper card and does not carry even a photograph.

Database linking

In India, the government is making the aadhar as a single identity proof document in the future. In such case,  all the private and public companies will have access to the aadhar numbers and it hampers individuals privacy.
In US the SSN number is only stored with the federal agencies and the US law prohibits sharing this with for any commercial purposes.