Re: National Identity Card

From: Ish Sookun <ish.sookun_at_lsldigital.mu>
Date: Thu, 01 Oct 2015 15:20:41 +0400

Hi SM,

On 2015-09-30 23:56, S Moonesamy wrote:
>
> The following is a reply to a question in the legislative assembly:
>
> "However, I am advised that, according to experts from Singapore
> Cooperation
> Enterprise, the minutiae are irreversible. Therefore, they cannot be
> converted back into fingerprints."
>

If the minutiae cannot be converted back to fingerprints, that doesn't
render the minutiae as being non-biometric or non-personal. The Supreme
Court of Mauritius prohibits the storage of “biometric information data”
and that should include the minutiae.

The answer contains the words "...I am advised". The minister is
"advised" by his team of technical officers and the Permanent Secretary.
It would be interesting to know whether the Ministry of Technology,
Communication and Innovation consider "minutiae" to be biometric and
personal or not.

> If sensitive personal data is not stored in the Central Population
> Database, it lessens the risk of an incident such as the one at
> https://www.opm.gov/news/releases/2015/09/cyber-statement-923/ where
> approximately 5.6 million fingerprints of individuals were stolen.
>

A data leak can occur anywhere in a system, not just from a database.

> There seems to be some confusion about whether the minutiae is
> personal data. I would list it as such. The question of whether the
> minutiae can be converted back is not that relevant as there are
> likely easier ways to get access to a person's fingerprint. A
> significant issue might be the following (from a decision of the Data
> Protection Commissioner):

I consider the minutiae as personal data since it is unique to the
fingerprint and is used to identify the person.

>
> "The irreversibility of the process can reduce the possibility of the
> individual of exercising their rights or to reverse decisions
> adopted
> based on a false identification.
>

Yes.

> The reliance on the accuracy of fingerprinting can make possible
> mistakes
> harder to rectify, leading to far reaching consequences for
> individuals."
>

Yes.

> During an informal discussion a person commented that a database of
> fingerprints would be useful to reduce crime. I argued that it is
> unlikely that thieves would leave their fingerprints on a crime scene
> nowadays.
>

Once there is a trap, a compromise would be skipping the trap. The
argument that "a database of fingerprints would be useful to reduce
crime" does not stand. If someone is doing a crime, as you said, the
criminal would not leave his fingerprints behind; worst he might leave
the fingerprints of someone else :)

Regards,

-- 
Ish Sookun
Received on Thu Oct 01 2015 - 11:20:52 PST

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