July 9, 2013 – by Peter B. Counter
A pilot of the biometric database was launched by the Interior Ministry in Rishon Lezion, Israel Monday afternoon, following years of public controversy surrounding issues of citizen privacy and data security. Citizens coming to renew or receive new ID cards will have the option of trading the traditional identification for a new biometric version.
Long opposed by organizations such as the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), the biometric database program was first approved by Knesset Science and Technology Committee in 2009 and immediately met with resistance. Two years later, in June 2011, the ordinances needed to establish the database were approved, and in July of the following summer the proposal for the use of biometric cards ended up under review by the Interior Ministry via the High Court of Justice.
Criticizing the voluntary biometric database program for pressuring citizens into compliance by only issuing smart ID cards to those who enlist in the program, ACRI alleges that “the Interior Ministry has delayed the issuance of smart IDs since 2007 in order to combine the process with the creation of a biometric database.”
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