Centre’s Digi Yathra App Enrollment At Airport Security Collects Data Without Consent (image-pixabay)
Digi Yathra App launched by centre facilitated easy movement of the passengers in an airport. The passengers can acquire this facility by scanning the boarding pass and face along with presenting identification proof to the security staff deployed near the registration desk, says Business Standard.
However, a recent report has been published by The Hindu stating that the centre’s app is now collecting data of the passengers without their consent. Some of the passengers has alleged the app, which is being aggressively promoted by the Union government, infringement of their privacy largely at airports.
This, now controversial app, was launched as an entirely voluntary programme from December 2022.
As per the report, an aerospace engineering scholar in the US, Mr Pattanayak who was travelling out of Delhi, skipped the queue which was dedicated to the Digi Yathra app users. But later realized that the one who were in his line too was too requested to look into the camera. Pattanayak alleged that the screen which captured their photo contained a small permission note to get enrolled to the app. “It is impossible to read the text and the camera interface takes up the entire screen. But I had read the text when there was another family ahead of me, so I quickly proceeded to click no,” he added.
A spokesperson for the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has also claimed that “private airport are collecting facial biometrics at various kiosks outside the passenger building, but CISF personnel are not involved in the exercise”. While a Delhi airport official said that their staffs were only assisting CISF personnel in carrying out the validation. “We have now briefed our teams at entry gates to ensure passengers are educated and consent sought from them,” he added.
Meanwhile, several passengers came up complaints that the airport officials and CISF personnel are forcing the travellers to enroll to the app.
The app though was unveiled by the government in 2018, was only launched after the Covid-19 pandemic. It is now implemented in 11 airports and will be expanded to 14 more.
This initiative will help the passengers to zip through several check points just by scanning their face and will only have to produce their boarding pass in the entry point where a single biometric face token is created. The app was launched aiming faster processing of passengers and letting airlines track delayed passengers.
The Digi Yatra Foundation maintains that biometric data or any other personally identifiable information is not stored in any database permanently, but in a secure wallet inside the app on the user’s mobile device. But the policy provides an exemption for airports to share data with government agencies. As India has a history of data leakages, this app will remain as a threat to common man.
In October 2023, the US based cybersecurity firm Resecurity reported a shocking information of over 81.5 crore Indians personnel information are being sold at dark web, sourced from the Indian Council of Medical Research’s database, including Aadhaar and passport details.
The Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Friday during a press conference, “Digi Yathra is now working at 13 airports, which are catering to around 85 per cent of the domestic passenger capacity in the country”. He during the conference also gave the details of the further expansion of the projects in the airport.
