IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Biometrics providers and other large private entities are supplying technologies to smart city projects to create and use digital IDs, according to a report from the Northeastern University School of Law and the Immigrant Defense Project. The groups are worried about the consequences of this arrangement, and possible increases in inequality and surveillance.

The 54-page report on ‘Smart-City Digital ID Projects: Reinforcing Inequality and Increasing Surveillance through Corporate “Solutions”’ argues that companies providing biometrics for law enforcement or national ID projects are prone to technological solutionism and likely to fail to meet community needs.

According to local media, a total of eight international organisations have bid for the tender to produce the documents.

Citizens will be able to receive their new documents from September 2011. The passports will contain the holder’s full name, date and place of birth, photograph and fingerprints. The eID cards will hold an electronic signature instead of fingerprints.

The bills were planned to be adopted till January 1, 2012, as they will be put in circulation starting from next year.

Moreover, passport offices of the Armenian Police plan to equip the system of collection and identification of electronic data.

Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong and New Zealand are placed 11th to 14th in the overall rankings.

One of the key pillars of the Index is ‘government usage’, where Asian countries have performed especially strongly. Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Bahrain and US took the first five places, and Malaysia was ranked the 6th.

He says before adopting biometric technology, organisations should make an assessment of their environments in order to address key requirements like access control.

Terblanche says that biometric technology cannot simply replace passwords in all applications without some serious thought.

It comes as the government moves to expand the offshore biometrics program beyond 20 countries as part of a plan to establish a global network of visa application centres and biometric collection centres.

The Gillard government's new privacy legislation has removed the ban on biometric data being handed to crime-fighting agencies.

Officials say the move could be of immense benefit in fighting crime, although privacy lobbysists liken it to a "Big Brother" development.

Tender documents released to the market reveal that Immigration authorities are seeking to buy commercial-off-the-shelf technology that will allow them to scan through and cross match potentially millions of people to make sure they are claim they say.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has flagged facial recognition as an ongoing area of development in its increased use of biometric technology.

The department is planning to launch a biometrics panel to source specialised biometric support — especially for facial recognition systems — for the Australian Passport Office (APO) and to help it develop its own in-house biometrics skills.

Victoria Police Superintendent Rod Wilson flagged an electronic database for venues to access and share information on the city's worst boozy offenders.

"I'd love to see it. It'd be fantastic," he said.

The databases of captured patron information mean that individuals banned at one location could be refused entry across a string of venues. Particularly violent individuals could be banned for years.

The databases are virtually free from government regulation as biometrics are not covered by privacy laws, meaning that the handling of details are left to the discretion of technology vendors.

Um das Fälschen von Ausweisen weiter zu erschweren und vor allem um europäischen Bürgern ab Herbst 2005 weiterhin die visumfreie US-Einreise zu ermöglichen, müssen die EU-Staaten nun biometrische Reisepässe einführen. Die Kosten für die mit Funkchips versehenen Reisepässe soll der einzelne Bürger tragen. Politiker aus Reihen der Grünen und der FDP befürchten nun, die Kosten könnten um ein Vielfaches über die der aktuellen Reisepässe (26,- Euro) steigen und für den Bürger eine schwere Bürde werden.

Der Bundesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz Peter Schaar begrüßt die Entscheidung der US-Regierung, die Frist zur Einführung von Pässen mit biometrischen Daten um ein Jahr zu verschieben. "Mit der Verschiebung der Verpflichtung um ein weiteres Jahr tragen die USA den erheblichen Problemen bei der Einführung dieser Technik Rechnung", so Schaar. Die Bundesregierung solle die gewonnene Zeit nutzen, um einen möglichst guten Datenschutz und eine hohe Datensicherheit zu erreichen, so Schaar heute in Berlin.

We need to make sure that Australia’s toolbox is world’s best practice for dealing with this,” the AAP news agency quoted Bowen as saying. The type of data that would be collected include digital facial images and 10-digit fingerprint scans. Bowen said this would help establish the identity of protection visa applicants who arrived in Australia often without sufficient documentation.

Australia’s Attorney-General, John Rau, is seeking to expand police powers with respect to fingerprint scanning, according to a Herald Sun article by Nigel Hunt. His proposed new legislation will allow police to demand on-the-spot fingerprint scans from citizens, with penalties for refusal including a fine of up to $1250 or a maximum of three months in prison.

It’s an expansion from current rules restricting fingerprint scanning to those who have already been arrested, and police would need to have “reasonable cause” to perform the scans. While the legislation has yet to be reviewed and officially implemented, police across the country are already equipping themselves with the needed hardware, with 150 portable fingerprint scanning devices being deployed across the country. That development follows on a trial run last year that satisfied police with the utility of the devices.

Criminals getting in without Australia knowing about their convictions

Australia's Parliament has passed a law that will make it possible to collect biometric data, from citizens and visitors alike, at the nation's borders.

The Migration Amendment (Strengthening Biometrics Integrity) Bill 2015, an amendment to the Migration Act of 1958, is explained as an effort to “streamline seven existing personal identifier collection powers into a broad, discretionary power to collect one or more personal identifiers from non-citizens, and citizens at the border.”

Changes include power to collect children’s data without parental consent.

Australia is pushing legislation to expand the types and amount of biometric data it can collect at immigration checkpoints.

The new bill introduced this month would give the Department of Immigration and Border Protection power to collect more data, including from minors, when the need arises because the country faces higher terrorism-related risks.

Australia on Sunday announced an overhaul of security at all its international airports, with technology set to replace passports as means of identifying passengers by 2020.

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection is seeking tenders for a self-processing system to be introduced later this year, Australia’s ABC News reported.