The Hindu Business Line : Concern over ICAO move for `biometric' passports

THE International Civil Aviation Organisation's (ICAO) biometrics-approach to securing travel documents has invited the wrath of civil liberties and human rights activists around the world who fear this would lead to the creation of a global surveillance infrastructure.

An open letter to the ICAO signed by leading activist organisations led by Privacy International and the American Civil Liberties Union expressed concern about ICAO plans requiring passports and other travel documents to contain biometrics and remotely readable "contact-less integrated circuits."

Respecting the privacy of individuals was essential to an open society, including travel privacy. Border and aviation security necessarily involved scrutinising travellers and the use of personal information, but in light of the fundamental human rights involved, must be approached with the utmost thought and care. But the biometrics-based approach to securing travel documents unfortunately did not reflect such care.

The letter goes on to add: "We are increasingly concerned that the biometric travel document initiative is part and parcel of a larger surveillance infrastructure monitoring the movement of individuals globally that includes Passenger-Name Record transfers, Advance Passenger Information (API) systems, and the creation of an inter-governmental network of interoperable electronic data systems to facilitate access to each country's law enforcement and intelligence information.

"We are concerned that the ICAO is setting a surveillance standard for the rest of the world to follow. In this sense, the ICAO is setting domestic policy, implementing profiling and ID cards where previously none may have existed, or enhancing ID documentation through the use of biometrics, and increasing the data pouring into national databases, or creating them when none previously existed.

"While we understand the desire of the ICAO to increase confidence in travel documents, reduce fraud, combat terrorism, and protect aviation security, the implementation of biometrics will have disproportionate effects on privacy and civil liberties."

Because they are not carefully crafted, the ICAO standards risk ignoring these international warnings, resulting in the creation of centralised national databases of personal biometric information.

Central databases become privacy risks through the disclosure of personal information, through the challenges of securing such large data stores, and through the use of biometric data for other purposes.

Additionally, the centralised storage of biometric data increases the risk of the use of biometric data as a key to interconnecting databases.