Israeli Interior Ministry’s biometric ID bill facing opposition
27 July, 2009
category: Biometrics, Government
In hopes of achieving final approval before the summer recess, the Knesset Science and Technology Committee (KSTC) in Israel’s Interior Ministry is holding further discussions on the using biometric in identity documents, according to a Jerusalem Post article.
The bill specifically calls for reissuance of IDs such as passports so that they now contain biometric information on the carrier such as fingerprint data and facial biometrics data.
While the government is interested in such a program to be able to better identify wanted criminals and stop ID fraud, privacy advocates are worries that such a program gives the government too much control over their citizen’s personal information and poses a threat to personal privacy. One of the possible threats outlaid by an official from Israel’s Association for Civil Rights is police being able to identify protesters from photos alone as well as worries of the database’s security being breached.
Other issues surrounding the program involve the low-levels of accuracy by the facial contours biometrics proposed in that they generally yield a six percent possibility of error leading to unnecessary investigations. While many of those in opposition agree with the KSTC insofar as the need for advanced and perhaps even biometric-based IDs to prevent fraud and ID theft, they are adamant that the current proposal does not address a number of potential hazards such a program can bring.
Read the full story here.