Ministry of Digital Development proposes to collect biometric data of Russians without their consent

If the proposal is approved, then the information from cameras near the metro, banks and MFCs will enter the biometric system, writes "Kommersant". At the same time, in the event of a data leak, the consequences can be catastrophic, experts interviewed by the publication warned.

Amendments are proposed to be made to the draft order of the department, which determines the procedure for collecting biometric data. The authors of the project note that the transfer of data to the "Unified Biometric System" in this way does not contradict the current legislation. Amendments to the law "On Information", allowing this to be done, were adopted in early July.

In addition, these amendments to the order simplify the data transfer procedure. If earlier, for example, it was required to transfer both the face and the voice of a person to the "Unified Biometric System", now even one of the components of biometrics is sufficient.

To date, the system stores about 236.4 thousand biometric data samples of Russians. The Ministry of Digital Development plans to speed up data collection.

The transfer of data will increase the security of their storage, the authors of the project believe. Moreover, if biometric data was collected by banks, credit institutions will have to notify the client that his data will be transferred to the EBS. A Russian who does not want his data to be stored in this database can apply to the EBS with a request to destroy this data.

Experts interviewed by the publication note that amendments to the draft order could have disastrous consequences. Given that biometrics will be collected continuously from any source, duplication of data on one person is not excluded. Storing such a volume of data makes the consequences of their leakage simply catastrophic, experts say.