Israel's Biometric Database Law: Risks and Opportunities (in Hebrew)

In 2009, the Israeli parliament passed legislation establishing a national biometric scheme which includes the roll out of a smart ID card with embedded biometric information as well as the establishment of a centralized biometric database. In this article, I criticize the legislative process leading to the enactment of the law; argue that a centralized database does not further its stated goals, while creating ominous privacy and data security risks; and point out that better alternatives were available but swept aside during the legislative hearings. At the same time, I describe various mechanisms of privacy by design that were introduced by the legislation, which could add robust protections to government databases in fields such as health, education, and traffic control.