siliconrepublic | March 3, 2012
The passing of a new law in France paving the way for a biometric database and requiring all citizens to carry a biometric ID card is a time bomb for civil liberties, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has warned.
On Tuesday, the French National Assembly passed a law for the creation of a national biometric database, ostensibly to fight identity fraud.
However, the EFF warns that biometric databases pose a mission-creep threat since the data can be used for reasons beyond identity fraud.
It points out that governments are increasingly demanding storage of citizens’ biometric data on chips embedded into identity cards or passports and centrally held on government databases, with little regard to citizens’ civil liberties.
When your biometric data is stolen - it’s stored as data after all, and companies and governments have lost millions of passwords to theft or incompetence already - you are going top be in a real pickle. Passwords can be changed, but if a thief has your fingerprint or retinal image data what can you do? you can’t change your retina or your fingerprint!