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Nameless and Faceless: The Role of Biometrics in Realising Quantum (In)security and (Un)accountability

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Security and Privacy in Biometrics
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Abstract

This chapter explores the contradictions between the claims that biometrics will boost security and prevent identity theft, and the growing evidence of how, as more biometric documents are introduced, there is increasing e-crime that threatens personal identity and security, and collective security in the e-spaces of egovernment and personal life. It considers the impact on and ethical implications for society of widening biometric applications to daily life; and for those responsible for ensuring security and accountability as traditional controls are eroded. It concludes with a series of suggestions for avoiding dystopia.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Agreement between the European Union and the United States of America on the processing and transfer of Financial Messaging Data from the European Union to the United States for purposes of the Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme, OJ L8 13 January 2010, p. 9.

  2. 2.

    Papal audience on 23 Feb 2010 to representatives of Ente Nazionale per l’Aviazione Civile Italiana (www.enac-italia.it) and Ente Nazionale per l’Assistenza al Volo (http://www.enav.it/portal/page/portal/PortaleENAV/Home) responsible for airport workers. http://212.77.1.245/news_services/bulletin/news/25164.php?index=25164&po_date=20.02.2010&lang=en.

  3. 3.

    UK Department for Transport, Interim Code of Practice for the Acceptable Use of Advanced Imaging Technology (Body Scanners) in an Aviation Security Environment, London, 2010. http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/security/aviation/airport/.

  4. 4.

    X-ray security screening system (The Secure 1000) was developed in 1992 and commercialised by RAPISCAN, http://www.dspguide.com/secure.htm.

  5. 5.

    UK Dept. for Transport, Interim Code of Practice for the Acceptable Use of Advanced Imaging Technology (Body Scanners) in an Aviation Security Environment, http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/security/aviation/airport/.

  6. 6.

    TRAN/D/2008/57605, 26.09.2008. http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air/consultations/2009_02_19_body_scanners_en.htm; EP Hearings, Summary of hearing of Viviane Reding—Justice, fundamental rights and citizenship; Commission’s Green Paper on detection technologies in the work of law enforcement, customs and other security authorities, COM(2006)474 final.

  7. 7.

    http://ec.europa.eu/justicehome/fsj/privacy/indexen.htm; http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/fsj/privacy/workinggroup/wpdocs/2009-others_en.htm.

  8. 8.

    http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/10/16&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en.

  9. 9.

    European Court of Human Rights (EctHR) Case of S. and Marper versus the United Kingdom Application nos. 30562/04, Strasbourg, 4 December 2008. See Equality and Human rights Commission (2009) The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s response to the government’s consultation on: Keeping the right people on the DNA database, London. Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) (2003) Biometric Identifiers (EPIC: Washington, DC). www.epic.org/privacy/biometrics/.

  10. 10.

    See Italy’s case: GARANTE PER LA PROTEZIONE DEI DATI PERSONALI Provvedimento generale sulla biometria.

  11. 11.

    Stockholm Programme p. 18.

  12. 12.

    Communication from the Commission, Compliance with the Charter of Fundamental Rights in Commission legislative Proposals, 27.04.2005. COM(2005)172 final.

  13. 13.

    Council of the EU, Presidency to Delegations, Reports by the High Level Contact Group (HLGG) on information sharing and privacy and personal data protection, JAI 822, DATAPROTECT 74,USA102, 15851/09, 23 Nov 2009.

  14. 14.

    www.europa.eu.int/comm/indernal_market/en/dataprot/wpdocs/index/htm.

  15. 15.

    In April 2010 Irish Judge Peter Charleton argued that the Internet is merely one communication tool of many, and not ‘an amorphous extraterrestrial body with an entitlement to norms that run counter to the fundamental principles of human rights’ http://courts.ie/Judgments.nsf/09859e7a3f34669680256ef3004a27de/7e52f4a2660d8840802577070035082f?OpenDocument.

  16. 16.

    IP/C/LIBE/FWC/2005-08/SC3 PE 378.262.

  17. 17.

    BioTesting Europe, PASR 2006 Action report 2008.

  18. 18.

    Department for Transport and Detica report (2009) The benefits and costs of a national smart ticketing infrastructure, London.

  19. 19.

    As in the case of bank data, e.g. HSBC Private bank in Switzerland (like many others) in 2010 revealed the true extent of data theft to be three times higher than originally disclosed. See too the reports by data integrator Informatica, March 2011.

  20. 20.

    UK shops can be prosecuted for selling alcohol to people under 18.

  21. 21.

    Council Regulation (EC) No. 2252/2004 on standards for security features and biometrics in passports.

  22. 22.

    Bundesamt fur Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik (2010), Technische Richtlinie TR-03127: Architektur elektronischer Personalausweis und elektronischer Aufenthaltstitel, Version 1.10, 31. März, Bonn.

  23. 23.

    ISO/IEC 247 13-1.

  24. 24.

    ePassports from Austria, Belgium, Greece, Italy, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands inter alia fall into this category.

  25. 25.

    The theft of British citizens’ identity in the Dubai case raised numerous concerns about the security against breaches of chips in epassports.

  26. 26.

    US VISIT Smart Border Alliance RFID Feasibility Study, Final Report, www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/foia/US-VISIT_RFIDattachB.pdf.

  27. 27.

    P. McCarthy, Report on Individual Identity, Rise, 2009.riseproject.eu.

  28. 28.

    http://www.edps.europa.eu.

  29. 29.

    COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No. 2725/2000 of 11 December 2000 concerning the establishment of ‘Eurodac’ for the comparison of fingerprints for the effective application of the Dublin Convention, OJL316/1 15 December 2000.

  30. 30.

    European Commission (2006) Document de travail des services de la Commission, Accompagnant le Projet de proposition de Reglement du Parlament Européen et du Conseil établissant un Code Communautaire des Visas RESUME DE L’ANALYSE D’IMPACT {COM(2006)403 final} {SEC(2006)957} C6-0254/06, SEC(2006)958, Bruxelles, 19.7.2006. See too Draft Report by the European Parliament’s LIBE committee 9 July 2007 on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a Community Code on Visas (COM(2006)0403—C6-0254/2006—2006/0142(COD)) 2006/0142(COD).

  31. 31.

    http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/10/st05/st05842-re02.en10.pdf. Council of the EU to: Delegations Subject: Draft Internal Security Strategy for the European Union: ”Towards a European Security Model”, 5842/2/10 REV 2 JAI 90, 23 Feb 2010.; and on criminal records sharing see ECRIS Council Decision 2009/316/JHA of 6 April 2009 on the establishment of the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS) (OJ 2009, L 93/33) and the Opinion of the EDPS of 16 September 2008 (OJ 2009, C 42/1).

  32. 32.

    See Opinion of the EDPS of 7 December 2009 on the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing an Agency for the operational management of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice, and on the proposal for a Council Decision conferring upon the Agency established by Regulation XX tasks regarding the operational management of SIS II and VIS in application of Title VI of the EU Treaty.

  33. 33.

    DG Internal Policies of the Union, Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs, Data Protection in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice: A system still to be fully developed? PE 410.692, March 2009.

  34. 34.

    Council of the European Union, Council Decision on the conclusion of an Agreement between the European Union and the United States of America on the processing and transfer of Financing Messaging Data from the European Union to the United States for the purposes of the Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme, 2010/0178(MLE) 24 June 2010.

  35. 35.

    European Commission Communication on the creation of a European border surveillance system (EUROSUR), COM(2008)68, 13.2.08.

  36. 36.

    See for the Prüm-system Council Decision 2008/615/JHA and 2008/616/JHA of 23 June 2008 on boosting cross-border cooperation in combating terrorism and crime (OJ 2008, L 210/01) and the Opinions of the EDPS of 4 April 2007 (OJ 2007 C 169/2) and 19 December 2007 (OJ 2008, C 89/1).

  37. 37.

    See on this the Article 20 Data Protection Working Party Work Programme for 2010–2011. http://www.ec.europa.eu/justice_home?fsj/privacy/docs/wpdocs/2010/wp170_en.pdf, 3 March 2010.

  38. 38.

    The Article 29 Working Party on the Protection of Individuals with regard to the Processing of Personal data is an independent advisory body on data protection and privacy, set up under Article 29 of the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC. Comprising member states’ national data protection authorities, the EDPS and the European Commission, it examines the application of national measures adopted under data protection directives in order to contribute to their uniform application. Its tasks are set out in Article 30 of Directive 95/46/EC and Article 15 of Directive 2002/58/EC. It issues recommendations, opinions and working documents.

  39. 39.

    LIBE Data Protection in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice: A System still to be developed? PE 410.692, March 2009:3.

  40. 40.

    EDPS (2008) EDPS sees adoption of Data Protection Framework for police and judicial cooperation only as a first step, Press release, Brussels 28 Nov 2008. Council Framework Decision 2008/877/JHA of 27 November 2008 on the protection of personal data processed in the framework of police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters, OJ L350/60, 13 Dec 2008.

  41. 41.

    Ann Cavoukian, Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, “Whole Body Imaging in Airport Scanners: Activate Privacy Filters to Achieve Security and Privacy”, March 2009.

  42. 42.

    http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air/consultations/doc/2009_02_19_body_scanners_questionnaire.pdf, October 2008, the first comprehensive Privacy Impact Assessment for Whole Body Imaging was published by the US Department of Homeland Security.

  43. 43.

    http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/eyouguide/navigation/index_en.htm.

  44. 44.

    These include Article 8 of the 1950 Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms; the 2007 Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the 1891 Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (known as Convention 108 and vital to the AFSJ and police cooperation transactions) and the variety of ad hoc data protection provisions under Europol, the partial application of the EU Directive (pre-Lisbon) to pillar I issues and hence to Eurodac and partially to Schengen II and the Visa Information Systems. LIBE PE 410.692, p. 7.

  45. 45.

    Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, Examining the creation of a European Border Surveillance System (EUROSUR) Brussels, 13.2.2008, COM(2008)68 final Commission Communication, on an entry/exit system at the external borders of the European Union, facilitation of border crossings for bona fide travellers, and an electronic travel authorisation system, COM(2008)69 final, Brussels, 13.2.2008.

  46. 46.

    M.J. Beloff QC in August 2009, when asked to advise the Equality and Human Rights Commission whether the [British] Government’s proposals for a National DNA database set out in a consultation document from the Home Office on “Keeping the Right People on the DNA Database” comply with the European Convention on Human Rights stated that ‘if the proposals were enacted into law they are likely to breach the Convention and lead to findings of violations by the European Court of Human Rights. In practice, it is unclear whether much has changed as a result.’

  47. 47.

    http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,682790,00.html.

  48. 48.

    “Security by design”, Homeland Security Europe, speech by Commissioner Frattini to the EU Security Research Conference, Berlin, 26 March 2007: http://www.homelandsecurityeu.com/currentissue/article.asp?art=271247&issue=219.

  49. 49.

    http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/smn/smn21/s21mn11.htm summarises findings in Single Market News No 21 (2000). C OUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION Brussels, 13 December 2001 (20.12) (OR. es) 15206/01; ENFOPOL 156 NOTE from: the future Spanish Presidency to: Police Cooperation Working PartyNo. prev. doc.: OJ C 340, 10.11.1997, p. 1 Subject: Network of contact points of national authorities with responsibility for private security. Brussels, 29 January 2002 (OR. es) 5135/02 ENFOPOL 5 LEGISLATIVE ACTS AND OTHER INSTRUMENTS Subject: Initiative of the Kingdom of Spain on the setting up of a Network of contact points of national authorities responsible for private security http://www.statewatch.org/news/2002/apr/priv07245.pdf As under 29 April 2004 Case C-171/02: Commission of the European Communities v Portuguese Republic based on Articles 39 EC, 43 EC and 49 EC—Directive 92/51/EEC.

  50. 50.

    http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/health/index_en.htm.

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Lodge, J. (2013). Nameless and Faceless: The Role of Biometrics in Realising Quantum (In)security and (Un)accountability. In: Campisi, P. (eds) Security and Privacy in Biometrics. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5230-9_13

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