‘Biometric big brother’ to watch EU

Plans to create a digital fingerprint database of EU passport applicants treat “all citizens as suspects”, say civil liberties campaigners.

Post-September 11 Brussels proposals to include digital ‘biometric’ identifiers in all European passports are set to spark a row over privacy rights.

The security move, expected in 2005, will see EU travel documents embedded with computer chips containing digitalised photographs and fingerprints.

And demands for cross-border, cross referencing will lead to a “centralised biometrics-based ‘EU passport register’” holding data on almost all Europeans.

Statewatch editor Tony Bunyan argues the plans are “much more to do with Fortress Europe, law enforcement and social control than fighting terrorism”.

“We are moving from a situation where biometrics is used to investigate crime or terrorism to requiring all citizens to give biometric data,” he told an event organised by the European Liberal Democrats.

“We are moving to a system where all citizens, in effect, become suspect.”

Liberal leader in the European Parliament, Graham Watson also believes that there are dangers of a ‘biometrics big brother’.

“It is a debate about the extent to which we are willing to put freedom of movement or our rights as citizens in the hands of database technologies and the agencies that interpret the data that they store,” he said on Tuesday.

“Striking the right balance with biometrics means making sure that we do not purchase a little bit of safety at what we later learn was an unacceptable price in freedom.”

Watson notes that the hijackers responsible for 2001’s devastating terror attacks on New York and Washington entered the US “in their own names, under their own passports”.

“The frantic attempts to fix the mistakes of September 11 seem almost to run ahead of a proper analysis of what those mistakes actually were,” he said.

“In particular, the belief that the increased danger of terrorism justifies a more intrusive policy with regard to personal information has taken powerful hold.”

But also speaking at the ELDR event, a representative of the biometrics industry dismissed civil liberties fears.

“We are not about to become a banana republic,” said Mark Walsh, general counsel for Daon and chairman of the European Biometrics Forum.

“The last time I looked Europe still had strong data protection laws.”

European Commission proposals for biometric EU passports are set for a rough ride from MEPs.

Ole Sorensen, the Danish MEP charged with drafting the European Parliament’s report on the issue, does not want security fears to trump EU privacy rights.

“Before embarking on such far-reaching and unprecedented legislation, we need a thorough debate on all the possible ramifications,” he said.

“The current proposals on the use of biometrics could be a step towards systematic and centralised storage of sensitive personal data, which would be like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. It would be premature to adopt this legislation.”

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