The United States is one of the worst countries in the world when it comes to the privacy of citizens’ biometrics data.
While there is a handful of state laws that protect state residents’ biometrics (as can be seen in our state privacy study), this does leave many US citizens’ biometrics exposed as there is no federal law in place.
Check It Out: US Among Top 5 Worst Countries for Biometrics Privacy
Andrew:
This is a sobering score card.
The trend, although not entirely recent even if it has escalated in recent times, of the USA being associated with some of the worst human rights and personal liberties serial offenders is more than worrisome, but a klaxon indicator for self-evaluation and possible course correction. That said, there are important differences amongst this quintet.
Whatever the motives for policy adoption by any country, including collection of biometry, should these ‘ends’ land you in bad company, reevaluation of the ‘means’ is necessary not simply for social good, but an indicator of the requisite self-reflection and critical review for an open society dedicated to protecting individual liberty.
The one safeguard not addressed in the piece (at least in my hasty read), which would apply not only to the collection of biometric, but any type of sensitive personal data, rationale aside, is the infrastructure of legal protections and opportunities for redress afforded to the individual in these different societies. Having spent time in all but one of them, this is important context, and profoundly affects the perception of freedom to persons living in these countries.
Beyond these, at least in a free society, is the transparency associated with these data collection, and their pre-specified terms of use, which were not adequately addressed in the article.