Merging existing databases into one big one might be more accurate but that's modern journalism.
Edit: I would also guess it is incompatible with recently introduced legislation.
Do you feel more comfortable giving the same information to the US?
For example I live in an Eastern-European country that is also an EU member and I hold a passport which does not have any incorporated biometric data in it, but that only happens because I specifically chose a temporary (meaning one-year) passport instead of the normal 5-year or 10-year passports, the latter requiring you giving your biometric info away. As I was saying, I suspect this loophole will be closed pretty soon.
If you want true misery, try getting flagged by the UK, EU or US and enjoy up getting detained for hours (in a holding cell) each time you try to cross their border.
Have you actually travelled on such a passport?
Yeah, I've travelled to Turkey pretty soon after I had it issued, in fact that was the main reason of me getting a passport and yes, I did sort of use it as a one-time thingie. It sure adds some extra costs (in real money and in opportunity costs) but I'm willing to eat them up, for the moment.
> is sure to attract attention from foreign authorities, they'll assume you're restricted for some reason. Telling them that you got it to avoid being fingerprinted is not going to please them.
That's one extra reason not to travel to countries that treat tourists/foreign people like crap.
In my experience, unless you go thru an automated system when passing thru immigration, chances are you will be treated arbitrarily (crap).
Source: non white man living and traveling within Scandinavia always randomly selected for additional questions.
...you do realize that "biometric info" is the most easily accessible / stealable type of information. Anyone can grab your biometric infos easily if you become a person of interest, so it's hard to think of what you're practically gaining.
It's like Americans with their SSNs, this kind of information is practically public (ignoring legalese and crap), so trying to keep it away from a big database will only work up to a point. In a way things like the Equifax hack are a good thing because now anyone's SSN can be assumed public.
Sure, if you fancy a career in intelligence or as an undercover something, it would be a valuable personal asset to have "biometrics not recorded in databases X, Y and Z". But it only works until you're caught/recorded the first time. And if you're either "interesting enough" or a public person, anyone caring to track you surely already has your biometric infos.
(Otoh, assuming anyone managing that big EU db will be grossly incompetent is probably realistic :P)
Well, if you plan a career undercover, you will want you biometrics recorded everywhere linked to alternative identities. The lack of biometric record is going raise more flags than Generic Joe passing through. This move of centralising biometric database is going to seriously reduce your number of available alternative personas.
No having your biometric stored is a loudable goal and should be seen as a form of protest. Like people living off the grid.
Unfortunately, as noble parent intention are, they are aligned with the much more pragmatic intentions of criminals, which means that, indeed, it will be harder and harder to achieve it and even when he succeed, he will make his profile light up like a Christmas tree in all the system when he tries to lead a normal life.
My national ID is valid for 10 years from now and does not use any biometrics. It was optional, but if I had chosen to add biometric information, it would just be on a relatively insecure device but not in any database. That is a huge difference. Not that I would accept either. So the problem is postponed at least.
It will be inconvenient, but managable. Even if credit card usage will be more difficult, but there are alternatives.
I fully acknowledge to be the weird dude paying the car in cash.
For the ex-USSR - the Soviet Republic, this vision of the future would have been a dream come true.
I am not going to give the EU biometrical data, even if that means skipping some "services".
That may mean that you're not travelling into the EU at all. What is so different towards having to supply my fingerprints, when travelling to the US (or Malaysia, or Japan for that matter)?
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Information_System
Quote: "The type of data about people kept in SIS includes (...)" So it is not a complete list, and the listed entries are just an excerpt:
- requests for extradition
- undesirability of presence in particular territory
- minor age
- mental illnesses (!!!)
- missing person status
- a need for protection
- requests by a judicial authority
- and suspected of crime.
- firearms
- identity documents
- motor vehicles
- banknotes
- (...)
Not sure how it is in the US, but it seems that there is a right of access for each EU citizien to the SIS database[1], e.g. in Germany, citizens have a direct right of access by contacting
Bundeskriminalamt–SIRENE Büro –D –65173 WiesbadenTel.: ++611 551 65 11Fax: ++611 551 65 31E-mail: sirenedeutschland@bka.bund.de
[1] https://www.dvi.gov.lv/lv/wp-content/uploads/datu-aizsardz/p...
I have ADHD and it is flagged in the system. How do I know? When I tried to exchange my driver license, it was flagged and the “local DMV” forwarded the application to the police department. I then had to present evidence to the police I was capable of driving, thankfully I’ve never been fined and my psychiatrist didn’t have a problem signing a document stating I am capable of driving (even though he himself never measured that skill specifically). At the end of one year long back and forth with the police dept, I got a 2 year provisional DL. Not sure if they will ever grant me a regular DL though.
As always, there is a trade-off in technology application.
Needless to say that this connection (if you even are prescribed such meds) is complete and utter bullshit.
It also doesn't help to de-stigmatize mental illness in society.
Thanks for sharing.
I sort of understand their view but the lack of medication or proper diagnose can also be linked to accidents, we just don’t have any data either way.
so technically you are both right. Also having it centralized allows for new features(fast cross-country lookups for example)
Now a shitload of agencies and their agents across the EU, including in untrustworthy countries like Poland, Hungary and Austria, can access all the sensitive data in one place.
This is NOT good.
For what it's worth I'd also put Italy on the list, with the open fascist Salvini as Interior Minister they're also not a stellar light of democracy any more.
But you obviously don't see right-wing parties as a threat, since they would get access to that data too. Although I would admit that they probably wouldn't accomplish anything that a Seehofer could do as well.
Really? Germany requires all citizens to have a biometric ID card. The ID cards were introduced separately in East and West Germany decades before reunification. What makes you think this is “stupid and negligent” when it’s been around for so long? I’d expect any social/political/legal bugs to have been solved by now.
Partially true for your picture, that is restricted to the ID itself. And that is a relatively recent addition. You can still get an ID with "imperfect" biometric photo, which you provide yourself. Biometric photo is defined by some rudimentary rules (you are not allowed to use a picture of the back of your head) that isn't comparable to fingerprints in any way.
> I’d expect any social/political/legal bugs to have been solved by now.
heh, have you written a test?
Fair. I suppose I expect important problems to be tested automatically by reality, but I don’t really know how Common Law systems handle that, and I’m completely unfamiliar with Civil Law systems.
But besides the point, requiring every citizen to be able to ID himself with biometric data is the bug, not a solution to anything.
Something national socialists knew very well. Although technologically restricted, there are unmissable parallels to legislation like this. This is legislation crafted from fear and opportunism. Not a single problem will be solved.
This has nothing to do with Brexit.
That will (almost certainly) end if Brexit occcurs.