The Oppressed Become The Oppressor: Israel's Biometric Database Law

06-04-2011 • 972mag.com

The new biometric database, approved last Thursday, is a threat to the privacy and freedom of every Israeli. It is our duty to refuse it By Atty. Jonathan J. Klinger Last Thursday marked the final approval of the biometric database regulations and the biometric database order in Israel; the regulations and order were approved by a special Knesset panel participated solely by MK Meir Sheetrit (Kadima) and Abraham Michaeli (Shas), where Sheetrit was the initial entrepreneur of the Biometric Database in his position as minister of interior. This marks the end of a process that began two years ago when The Knesset approved the biometric bill. The discussions prior to the approval were on who shall be granted access to the citizen’s biometric database (but not to whether it’s really needed). According to the biometric law, any citizen or resident that joins the database will have to provide the ministry of interior his fingerprints and a photograph of his face which will be stored in a central database which may be accessible to the ministry of interior, the police and other security services. Following public protest (heard mostly on the internet) it was decided that the database shall commence with a pilot program which will take no longer than four years. During this term, which commences this November, the necessity of the database will be evaluated (however, recent statements show that the pilot is not actually a pilot). Once the pilot program ends, every citizen who refuses biometric identification is subject to a prison term of up to a year. The only way to stop the forming of the database is to refuse to provide the government with fingerprint during the pilot period.