Central storage of fingerprints off the table?

Privacy First Foundation's mission on the new Passport Act appears to be succeeding. The plans for 'central storage' of biometric data are probably off the table for good, we have been told by well-informed government sources. The Lower House too is now turning against this storage in a national database, better known as the ORRA. Click HERE For the article on this in the Volkskrant of 3 February last.

This leaves the current 'decentralised storage' of biometric data already in municipal databases since summer 2009. In essence, however, this 'decentralised storage' (especially through possible interconnection) is just as centralised as a national database, with almost the same risks. What many people now seem to have forgotten is that the current 'decentralised storage' at municipalities was called 'centralised storage' until well after the 1990s. At the same time, the professional term 'decentralised storage' traditionally refers only to the storage of data in the passport or ID card itself. Privacy First is hereby pleased to draw your attention to this (governmentally deliberate) shift in terminology. From a pure point of view, the abolition of 'centralised storage' of biometrics should therefore include not only the national database but also storage in municipal databases. Only then will there be decentralised storage in the true sense of the word: merely in the chip in the passport or ID card.

Intrigued by the government's juggling of databases? Also read the article on this subject From The New Empire on Sargasso.