Biometric data should stay private

PROPOSALS by the Independent Communications Authority to tie our biometric data (fingerprints, retina scans and facial recognition) to our mobile SIM cards sounds like something out of a dystopian sci-fi novel.

But if you have recently used a smartphone, live in a secure residential estate or clock in at work you might be familiar with using your fingerprint as a form of identification.

Most of us hand over our biometric data without much thought, seeing it as a technological marvel, and the price we have to pay to usher-in the much-vaunted Fourth Industrial Revolution.

But activists have cautioned that handing over our biometric data can be abused equally by private companies and governments.

Icasa’s proposals for mobile networks to store this data came as a means, it says, to clamp down on SIM-swop fraud which, according to the South African Banking Risk Information Centre's (Sabric) latest figures, has increased by 91% year-on-year.

We are by no means experts in combating cybercrime but from our vantage it does seem like an overreach, on the part of Icasa, to call on mobile networks to be collecting our data under the guise of fighting criminals.

How will Icasa ensure that Big Tech does not throw several sweetened carrots at the unsuspecting public (a free smartphone?) to sign over our biometric information, with the T&Cs hidden deep down in the fine print.

Our recent history has shown us how, despite numerous safeguards in place, like the Inspector General of Intelligence, government spooks have abused their powers of surveillance not to counter criminality but advance political ends. How will mobile networks ensure that our biometric data, handed over to them will not end up in the wrong hands?

Unless the South African state becomes a model of efficiency and accountability, Icasa’s proposals might just be dead in the water.

We love being connected to the world, being able to access technological services that were unimaginable to our parents and our grandparents, but it should never be at the cost of our personal liberty as enshrined in the Bill of Rights.