Biometric data collection for issuance of a passport is a prudent thing, but biometric registration for a mobile phone service would be considered excessive almost universally.
Yet, I’m told it’s the in thing for “national security” in a growing number of countries such as UAE, Pakistan, and soon Saudi Arabia. An illustrious bunch indeed.
Nonetheless, unlike registration of offenders of a certain ilk, this apparently is for our own benefit. Jolly good then.
However, I do have issues with the payoff here. As a Bangladeshi, we are known to have a sharp nose for deals, unless you work in some kind of a procurement committee.
Disappointingly, all I get for surrendering my biometric privacy is 1GB of Internet data for Tk9! Haven’t checked if this includes VAT, otherwise this would be a rip off! Yay.
Even though I have been told this is optional, and if I don’t like it, I should go sit in a corner somewhere, surely the price for surrendering your biometric privacy in this day and age must be rewarded with a bare minimum of free data, right?
End of times, no doubt about it.
Then there is that pesky concern of our biometric data being misused or abused. In this regard, I am told through obscure reassurances by those in power -- through the media of course -- that I have nothing to worry about. What could possibly go wrong?
I mean, fingerprints are the least secure of biometric authentication methods, so why worry so much? I mean, assuming you trust your data being held by the government and managed by private bodies, I’m still pretty paranoid about how secure my data actually is.
What steps are being taken to ensure my data won’t be stolen or misused by a villainous third party? It’s all so vague and unclear.
In the meanwhile, there is no respite from the large-scale propaganda, framing this as a godsend beyond reproach. It’s on TV, radio, print, social networks. You have to submit. Resistance is futile. You verify yourself or get disconnected from the world.
Every call I make has a pre-recorded happy harassment attached to it. I shout at the woman in the recording: “I have registered, now begone you naughty spirit in the name of the father, son, and the holy ghost.” Nothing happens. It’s a work-in-progress. Perhaps a different denomination would work better. In the end though, I’m confident that I shall be victorious against this menace.
I’m led to believe from a few close friends, sympathetic to the drive, that times before the verification will be seen as the dark ages, and after as ushering in a secure Utopia. Well, if you say so.
So we move earth and planet for creating this database, oops I meant, this verification drive, and everyone is nervous talking about it but (shh, it’s for your own good, don’t be a party spoiler with your hidden liberal agenda) no one will do what is required to be done, and that is give the proceedings some consistent transparency to put overactive minds of people like me at rest.
Whose server is the binary data stored on? How is it secured? Who has access to it? Do third parties have access to it? When the operators take my fingerprint, what happens with that data? What are the fail-safes? Who is processing the forms we fill with out with our personal details? How secure is that data?
The state minister for post and telecommunication, in a media response to the High Court writ against the verification drive, said the concerns regarding the handling of biometric data were unfounded, and that a fact-based IT presentation would be made in court as and when required, dispelling concerns of the honourable court.
My question to the government would be: Why not do as much for us, concerned citizens? Oh and for the record, I have Tk9 less in my mobile balance as I type this.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
