![]() Networker: Jan Krissler, the Biometrics Hacker In the future, a second biometric characteristic will be registered: Fingerprints. ID cards used in Germany and elsewhere in Europe include an integrated chip with the same biometric photo that is also visible on the front of the card. Most people use them for everyday movements within the country, although they can also be used for traveling around the EU. More than 62 million Germans have an ID card. They have the same dimensions as a credit card and are valid for 10 years. So far, this was a voluntary procedure for ID cards and obligatory only for separate passport documents. ![]() From that day on, all German citizens applying for a new government-issued ID will be obliged to permit their fingerprints to be stored electronically on the card. There's a pressing reason why data protection activists like Leena Simon are raising the alarm: From August 2, authorities in Germany are planning to massively extend requirements for fingerprints to be registered. After all, she says, it's a tool ordinarily used by the police in criminal investigations: "I don't understand why I should have to give the state access to my prints when I haven't broken the law." Simon has no ID card: In addition to her passport, she uses this photo ID, issued by Digitalcourage, with her preferred data Image: Privat Fingerprinting mandatory for ID cards But what she does know: "For the rest of the day, I felt awful." She says it is "invasive" when the state forces law-abiding citizens to allow their fingerprints to be taken. So, did it work? Leena says she can't be sure. Leena is a member of a German organization called Digitalcourage, which is committed to privacy and digital rights. ![]() The idea was that the resulting fingerprints would be included in her new passport. However, she used a trick that she's not willing to share to spoil the scan. She was instructed to press the index fingers of both hands on the glass surface of a scanner. "It was a really creepy feeling," says data protection activist Leena Simon, describing the moment when she last visited the citizens' service center at her local town hall and they wanted to take her fingerprints.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |