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Knesset to vote on biometric database bill during recess
Controversial proposal calling for application of smart identification features in State documents to be brought before the House during summer recess
The biometric database bill, which passed its first Knesset reading in October, and suggests the use of smart identification features in State documents is expected undergo its second and third Knesset readings during the oncoming summer recess.
The Knesset is expected to convene a special session of the House for the vote. The Knesset's Science and Technology Committee submitted it for a vote on Tuesday, but the proceeding was postponed.
The controversial bill has been the center of a heated public debate and has so far encountered vast opposition from many Knesset members, human rights groups and even the Public Defender's Office, which claim it would be detrimental to the citizens' right to privacy and as such, it has no place in a democracy.
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Knesset Member Meir Sheetrit (Kadima), who heads the Science and Technology Committee, said that the vote has been postponed due to the "Mofaz bill" filibuster, stressing that the opposition the bill has encountered had nothing to do with the deferral.
Sheetrit criticized those who say that the biometric database would infringe on the right to privacy, saying that the proposal was subject to 300 hours of deliberations and committee work.
A group of 14 Israel professors, scientists and data security experts have initiated a petition against the bill, calling it "dangerous." They were invited to appear before the committee, said Sheetrit, "And every one of them was given ample floor-time to address every issue.
"However, many of the people we invited to speak at the discussion, members of the academia and data security experts, didn’t even bother to show up," he added. "It seems to me that there is a group that is flooding the media with false information, which only goes to show that they don’t know the facts.
"I am appalled by the inaccuracies (in the reports) and I can only regret that they have been so misinformed. I'm willing to debate the bill with them right now," said Sheetrit.
'We already have similar databases'
The former interior minister added that the committee sought the advice of Israel's foremost experts on such databases when formulating the bill and that, "The bill proposed now is not the one we began with.
"Is every single one of these experts wrong and only those who are criticizing the bill – and who weren’t even present at the debate – are right?"
Sheetrit reiterated that the biometric database's purpose is to fight forgery of State documents, especially IDs and passports. "Changing them into smart IDs would save the State at least one billions shekels a year."
Addressing the claims that the database may be compromised to catastrophic results, Sheetrit said that "anyone who says such databases can pose a risk to national security is ignoring the fact that it is the current situation, when forgeries are so easy, that poses the real risk."
Israel, he added, already has several such databases, used by the Israeli Defense Forces, the Police Department and even the Employment Service.
The database, he continued, would be protected by some of the most advance and sophisticated measure available in the world today. The future administration tasked with maintain the database will be classified as "top secret" – making it a state body equal to the Shin Bet, the Mossad and the Atomic Energy Commission.
The database it self would be split in two and the administration's personnel will not have access to any cross-referencing.
Sheetrit also refuted the claims alleging Israel will become the only Western democracy to have a biometric database, saying that the United States, Britain, France, Canada, Australia and Switzerland also have them.
Nevertheless, none of the seven has a mandatory policy on the matter.
Should the bill pass its second and third readings, the committee for biometric applications would still have to approve the Interior Ministry's operational procedures, as well as launch a pilot program.
Sheetrit said he believed the smart ID program would be launched by mid 2010.
Ehud Kenan contributed to this report
