The European Commission releases a major new study on how biometric technologies – including fingerprint, iris and face recognition…
The European Commission releases a major new study on how biometric technologies – including fingerprint, iris and face recognition – will impact on our daily lives. Following an EU decision to introduce biometrics in passports, visas and residence permits starting in 2006, biometrics will become increasingly common in our daily lives. Costs will come down, people will become used to them through their travels and further commercial and civil applications will undoubtedly follow. Therefore the report recommends that policy-makers should act now to shape the use of biometrics rather than waiting and being reactive.
Biometrics will substantially help in making Europe`s borders more secure, facilitating border crossing and enhancing trust in identification documents, thus contributing to the creation of the European area of Justice, Freedom and Security. The development of such technologies can contribute to a secure knowledge-based society. An approach is needed that brings together different policy areas – security, industrial policy, competitiveness and competition policy – to ensure that Europe reaps the full benefits of government and EU initiatives related to biometric technologies.
The development and application of biometrics poses a number of challenges:
- On the economic side, the report points out the role EU Member States can play in assisting the emergence of a vibrant European biometrics industry. As the launch customers of the first major application of biometrics worldwide, they can push industry towards interoperability and the establishment of common standards that will promote competition and job creation.
- On the legal side, the report concludes that Member States will have to provide the appropriate safeguards for privacy and data protection, thus controlling the use and preventing abuse of biometric data.
- On the technological side, the report has identified the lack of independent empirical data. Hence, there is an urgent need to conduct large-scale field trials to ensure the successful deployment of biometric systems.
- On the social side, the Report raises the need to focus attention on making biometric applications acceptable to citizens, by clearly setting out their purpose and limitations. At the same time, it points out the risk of creating social exclusion for a small but significant part of the population.
- This could be because citizens choose not to use the required biometrics or are prevented from doing so by factors such as age or disability. Future systems should endeavour to minimise social exclusion.
The report was compiled by the European Commission`s Joint Research Centre at the request of the European Parliament`s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and will be presented to them today.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
