The EU Commission’s initiative for digital passports promises greater convenience, but is also likely to pave the way for biometric mass surveillance and automated discrimination. Civil rights organization European Digital Rights (EDRI) has expressed this apprehension in a report given to the Brussels Government Institute, which has now been published. According to them, the project will have an adverse impact on fundamental rights such as privacy, data security, non-discrimination and freedom of movement.
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With its legislative package from October, the Commission aims to speed up in-person checks at the Schengen external borders using digital travel documents. This includes a proposal for regulation of an application for the electronic transmission of travel data (EU Travel App). Its objective is to create a digital travel document based on the passport. The second draft regulation states that users can also create corresponding digital references based on their identity cards and save them on their smartphones.
EDRI works in the statement Three particularly dangerous aspects: the development of infrastructure for biometric mass surveillance, the prioritization of commercial interests while labeling passengers as at-risk, and the introduction of new and existing forms of discrimination. Activists write that this approach would require creating massive databases of facial images for automated identification. Despite the associated data protection and cyber security risks for travellers, it provides no clear information on how sensitive personal data should be protected from illegitimate access.
Saving 20 seconds of time while checking
In practice, digital verification of travel documents will require the processing of biometric data and facial images of travelers to be made available to Member States, explains EDRI. The idea of digitalizing sovereign documents is already confusing: in reality, it is “about the digital advance transmission of information from the chip of existing physical passports and identity cards to border authorities.” Passengers will still have to carry physical documents with them. Ultimately, the potentially discriminatory detection process is compensated for by the promise of saving 20 seconds during testing. Airlines and security personnel especially benefited from this.
EU consultation on planned travel app Will run till January 8. In this country, the former traffic light coalition recently removed a clause in proposed legislation, criticized by ex-federal data protection officer Ulrich Kelber, that required private bodies to register e-tickets with biometric characteristics for travel. Access to passport data should be given. For example, processing at airports.
(vbr)
