EU directive on privacy and electronic communications
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NGOs call for halt to biometric passports
Over forty non-governmental organisations from around the world signed an open letter to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on 30 March 2004. Privacy International (an EDRI member) and the American Civil Liberties Union wrote the letter calling on the ICAO to reconsider its standards-setting on biometric travel documents. The ICAO proposes that all passports […]
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Recommended reading: Genetic data
The Article 29 Data Protection Working Party has adopted a working document on genetic data. The technical progress which science has made over recent years in the field of genetic research has given rise to new data protection questions and concerns in relation to the significance and impact of genetic tests and the processing of […]
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EU Commission proposal for biometrics in passports
The European Commission has adopted a proposal for a Council Regulation that will set legally binding minimum standards for harmonised security features, including biometric identifiers, in all EU passports. The Commission chooses facial images as a mandatory biometric identifier for passports. Fingerprints can be added as an option at the discretion of Member States. The […]
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EU to promote research track & trace technology
According to a new Communication on the research into security, the European Commission plans to fund research on “tagging, tracking and tracing devices … that improve the capability to locate, identify and follow the movement of mobile assets, goods and persons”. The Commission announces the launch of a new funding program entitled ‘Enhancement of the […]
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Schengen information system goes biometric
With the planned inclusion of two biometric identifiers into EU Member States’ passports and ID Cards as well as Visa to the EU, it was only a question of time when the first plans to store these identifiers in an EU-wide database would be announced. The announcement came shortly before Christmas: Biometric data will, according […]
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EP Rapporteur sceptic about biometrics in ID-cards
Ole Sorensen, the Rapporteur for the European Parliament on two proposals for Council Regulations to include biometric identifiers into visas and ID cards, is questioning the proportionality and the adequacy of this measure to enhance security standards of EU travel documents. In a Working Document discussed at an internal meeting with the shadow rapporteurs of […]
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UK government's biometric plans undermined
The biometric technique that has been selected for incorporation into the new UK national ID card has been undermined in the scientific press. New Scientist has reported that the technique of iris scanning is not as perfect and infallible as the Home Secretary (Minister of Internal Affairs) has claimed. The article alleged that the technology […]
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EU proposal on biometrics in visa and passports
The European Commission is proposing to integrate biometric identifiers into visas and residence permits for third country nationals. Later this year proposals will follow for biometrics in passports of EU citizens, likely to be similar to the visa proposal. The Commission and member states want to store two types of biometric data into a contactless […]
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Preparations for biometric chip in EU passports
International technical standards bodies (ISO) and civil aviation bodies (ICAO) are preparing plans for ‘globally interoperable machine readable passports’. The technology should consist of RFIDs (Radio Frequency Identification) that contain ‘details that enable the machine-assisted identification of the presenter’. These technical descriptions point at passports that can transmit biometric data over a radio frequency. The […]
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Biometrics in EU passports
In a remarkably high-speed procedure, the EU Council plans to oblige all Member States of the Union to introduce chips containing biometric data on their passports within little less than a year. Allegedly, this step is taken to meet a U.S. deadline set on 26 October 2004. After that date, according to a law passed […]
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2 million DNA-profiles in UK police database
On the 100th anniversary of George Orwell, a UK police database with DNA-profiles of suspects reached the number of 2 million. According to an article in the English daily The Guardian, Home Secretary (minister of internal affairs) David Blunkett said the five-year-old database was well on the way to its target of holding 3 million […]
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UK proposal for biometric ID card
The controversy in the UK around the introduction of an ‘entitlement card’ was stirred up again last week by the Home Office (the Ministry of Internal Affairs for England and Wales). The Sunday Telegraph reported that Home Secretary David Blunkett (the minister) intends to charge people 35 – 43 euros for the cards. Thus he […]
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