The European Commission’s controversial new biometrics-based system for combating illegal immigration and processing asylum requests, Eurodac, was launched on 14 January amid security and data protection concerns. Eurodac is based on a central database in Brussels containing fingerprints of asylum seekers, a central processing unit to enable immigration authorities in 16 countries including the UK to compare fingerprints against the database, and a system for sending digitised fingerprints electronically. Protecting this sensitive data and ensuring the secure transmission of data electronically between the participating states and the central database are key issues. Frank Paul, head of the large-scale IT projects unit at the EC, said security had been a major concern. “For reasons of credibility of the system, security was one of our main concerns,” he said. “We think we have implemented the maximum security you can have.” Full Story
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