For not offering the guarantee that the biometric data of citizens will be safeguarded, the plenary session of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) declared unconstitutional and invalidated the reforms that created the National Register of Mobile Telephony Users (Panaut), which was promoted by the current federal government with the idea of fighting crime.
With nine votes from the ministers, the plenary session of the Court invalidated the decree of April 18, 2021, which reformed various provisions of the Federal Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law.
Minister Norma Lucía Piña Hernández, rapporteur on the matter and whose project was approved, stressed that the invalidated decree did not regulate the destination of the biometric data required of citizens to supply the National Registry of Mobile Telephony Users.
For this reason, he said, a constitutional control is required, as it is until now the judicial order to require the personal data of a person.
He stated that the Panaut was not a necessary measure in a democratic life, because there is no control of the data and respect for the privacy of the people, in addition to not finding justification and being contrary to the principles of articles 6 and 16 of the Constitution.
Minister Juan Luis González Alcántara Carrancá assured that the Panaut demanded personal data from citizens in exchange for greater security, but it resulted in a false and dangerous dichotomy between security and data use. He recalled that there was already a National Registry of Mobile Telephony Users (Renaut), which put users at greater risk by leaking information and therefore was destroyed in 2011.
He added that the federal government intended to reduce the incidence of crime with the argument of having the biometric data of citizens, but in the decree that repealed Renaut it was argued that this was the cause of its failure in 2011, because criminals or his accomplices do not provide the correct information about his identity.
Minister Luis María Aguilar Morales said that when citizens hand over their biometric data without guaranteeing their proper protection, there would be a risk of revealing even the genetic identity of the person.
He argued that it is not necessary for the purpose sought, since there are many mechanisms that the judicial authority has to investigate and prosecute crimes committed through mobile telephony.
It should be noted that the plenary session of the SCJN will continue this Tuesday with the study of the effects that the declaration of invalidity of said rule will have.
INAI celebrates ruling
For its part, the National Institute of Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data (INAI) recognized the ruling of the SCJN on the Panaut.
The plenary session of the INAI recalled that it was on May 13, 2021 when it filed the action of unconstitutionality on the grounds that the National Register of Mobile Telephony Users “violated the right to protection of personal data and infringed the principles of purpose, legality , proportionality, responsibility and security that govern their treatment, as well as legal certainty”.
The body added that the Panaut also granted the Federal Institute of Telecommunications (IFT) the power to issue provisions on the protection of personal data, which violates that right by invading the constitutional powers of the INAI.” (With editorial information)