The EU’s parliament voted to create a big biometric database known as the Common Identity Repository (CIR). The database will bring together the records of over 350 million people and help simplify the jobs of EU border and law enforcement officers. EU to Set up a Unified Database The European Parliament has agreed to unify the records of EU citizens and its visitors in a massive biometric database. The database which is called the Common Identity Repository (CIR) will consolidate the identity records and biometrics of both EU and non-EU citizens, and make it available to immigration and other border enforcement agencies. The identity records will include names, dates of birth, passport numbers, and other ID information. The biometrics details meanwhile include the fingerprints and facial scans. The primary aim of the biometric database is to make it easier for EU border and law enforcement personnel to search for people’s information faster. This is an upgrade to the current system of going through different databases when looking for information. The interoperability of the CIR will ensure that the law enforcement officers have fast, seamless, systematic and controlled access to the information that they need to perform their tasks. It would also detect multiple identities linked to the same set of biometric data and facilitate identity checks of third-country nationals (TCNs), on the territory of a Member State, by police authorities. The CIR for third-country citizens would enable identification of TCNs that lack proper travel documents. If a TCN has no identity document or the authenticity is doubtful, police authorities can use the CIR to identify the person using biometric data using the sBMS or travel-document details via MRZ. The EU parliament approved the creation of the CIR on Monday, April 15 in two separate votes. In the first one, the CIR rules for borders and visa checks got a massive vote of 511, while 123 members were against it. Similarly, the CIR legislation for police and judicial cooperation, asylum and migration had the support of 510 members, while 130 members were not in favor of its establishment. According to some EU officials last week, the systems that would be covered by the new regulations are the the European Criminal Records System for Third Country Nationals (ECRIS-TCN), the European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS), the Schengen Information System, Eurodac, the Visa Information System (VIS), and the Entry/Exit System (EES). Privacy Advocates Not in Support of the Creation of CIR Privacy advocates have been against the establishment of the unified biometric database ever since the plan was made public last year. The advocates believe that the creation of the CIR will be a point of no return in the development of what they call “a Big Brother centralized EU state database.” However, both the European Council and the European Parliament assured its citizens that they would adequately safeguard their right to privacy and regulate the access to data by law enforcement officers. Upon the creation of the CIR, it will join India’s Aadhar system and the Chinese government’s system as one of the largest people-tracking directories in the world. The FBI and the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) operate similar biometric directories in the United States.<doc-sep>An overwhelming vote in the European Parliament last week means that the EU will merge a grab bag of existing biometric databases to create the Common Identity Repository (CIR), with biometric data on 350,000,000 people (both EU- and non-EU persons) that will be available for use by all EU police and border authorities. The database contains identity information (passports, biographical info like name and date of birth) linked to biometric identifiers (face scans, fingerprints). This will be the third largest identity repository in the world, behind the Chinese state's internal surveillance system and India's Aadhar system. The EU claims that the safeguards on CIR will be sufficient to protect its subjects' privacy. The vote passed just weeks before an EU election that is expected to deliver new powers to authoritarian, xenophobic ultra-nationalist parties, who have also been surging at the national level, and whose officials will be able to use the database to track and target migrants, people accused of crimes, etc. Its primary role will be to simplify the jobs of EU border and law enforcement officers who will be able to search a unified system much faster, rather than search through separate databases individually. "The systems covered by the new rules would include the Schengen Information System, Eurodac, the Visa Information System (VIS) and three new systems: the European Criminal Records System for Third Country Nationals (ECRIS-TCN), the Entry/Exit System (EES) and the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS)," EU officials said last week. EU votes to create gigantic biometrics database[Catalin Cimpanu/Zdnet] (via /.)<doc-sep>A U.S. visa applicant is fingerprinted by a visa clerk at the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana, Mexico Monday, March 12, 2007. Photo : Denis Poroy ( AP ) The European Parliament has voted by a significant margin to streamline its systems for managing everything from travel to border security by amassing an enormous information database that will include biometric data and facial images—an issue that has raised significant alarm among privacy advocates. Advertisement This system, called the Common Identity Repository (CIR), streamlines a number of functions, including the ability for officials to search a single database rather than multiple ones, with shared biometric data like fingerprints and images of faces, as well as a repository with personally identifying information like date of birth, passport numbers, and more. According to ZDNet, CIR comprises one of the largest tracking databases on the planet. The CIR will also amass the records of more than 350 million people into a single database containing the identifying information on both citizens and non-citizens of the EU, ZDNet reports. According to Politico Europe, the new system “will grant officials access to a person’s verified identity with a single fingerprint scan.” This system has received significant criticism from those who argue there are serious privacy rights at stake, with civil liberties advocacy group Statewatch asserting last year that it would lead to the “creation of a Big Brother centralised EU state database.” The European Parliament has said the system “will make EU information systems used in security, border and migration management interoperable enabling data exchange between the systems.” The idea is that it will also make obtaining information a faster and more effective process, which is either great or nightmarish depending on your trust in government data collection and storage. “Without changing access rights or endangering the data protection rules that govern them, interoperability will ensure faster, more systematic and more complete access to EU information systems for professionals on the ground: police officers, border guards, migration officers and consulate staff members, in order for them to do their job better,” Rapporteur Jeroen Lenaers (EPP, NL) said in a statement in February . “Better decisions can be made on the basis of better information.” The CIR was approved through two separate votes: one for merging systems used for things related to visas and borders was approved 511 to 123 (with nine abstentions), and the other for streamlining systems users for law enforcement, judicial, migration, and asylum matters, which was approved 510 to 130 (also with nine abstentions). If this sounds like the handiwork of some serious lobbying, you might be correct, as one European Parliament official told Politico Europe. Advertisement A European Commission official told the outlet that they didn’t “think anyone understands what they’re voting for.” So that’s reassuring.<doc-sep>
The European Parliament voted last week to interconnect a series of border-control, migration, and law enforcement systems into a gigantic, biometrics-tracking, searchable database of EU and non-EU citizens. This new database will be known as the Common Identity Repository (CIR) and is set to unify records on over 350 million people. Per its design, CIR will aggregate both identity records (names, dates of birth, passport numbers, and other identification details) and biometrics (fingerprints and facial scans), and make its data available to all border and law enforcement authorities. Its primary role will be to simplify the jobs of EU border and law enforcement officers who will be able to search a unified system much faster, rather than search through separate databases individually. "The systems covered by the new rules would include the Schengen Information System, Eurodac, the Visa Information System (VIS) and three new systems: the European Criminal Records System for Third Country Nationals (ECRIS-TCN), the Entry/Exit System (EES) and the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS)," EU officials said last week. CIR passed through the European Parliament last Monday, April 15, in two separate votes. The CIR rules for borders and visa checks were adopted by 511 to 123, and nine abstentions, while the CIR legislation for police and judicial cooperation, asylum and migration was approved 510 to 130, and nine abstentions. The European Parliament and the European Council promised "proper safeguards" to protect people's right to privacy and regulate officers' access to data. EU to run one of the world's biggest biometrics databases Ever since plans to create this shared biometrics database have been made public last year, privacy advocates have criticized the EU, calling CIR's creation as the "point of no return" in creating "a Big Brother centralised EU state database." Once up and running, CIR will become one of the biggest people-tracking databases in the world, right behind the systems used by the Chinese government and India's Aadhar system. In the US, the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Federal Bureau of Investigations run similar biometrics databases. The database's existence can be easily justified by the necessity to give law enforcement better tools for tracking migrants and criminals; however, there's always the fear that the system will slowly be expanded to include and track people that are not the subject of any criminal investigations, such as tourist traveling across the EU space. Related government coverage: