Emmanuel Macron Wants to Scan Your Face
European leaders want to use biometric data to create digital IDs that save money. Tougher rules are needed to avoid a drift into Big Brother territory.
Taking a selfie for the French government won’t be as fun as taking one in front of the president’s house in Normandy.
Photographer: Christophe Morin/BloombergIt’s an interesting twist of fate that the European governments whose job it is to enforce sweeping new data-protection laws, rolled out to curb intrusive tech firms like Facebook Inc. and Google Inc., are increasingly finding their own digital ambitions tripped up by them.
Earlier this year, Ireland’s plan for a national “public services card” was deemed illegal by its data regulator for having strayed far beyond its initial remit of serving social-welfare recipients. Linked to a database of millions of people’s personal data, it had become key to accessing “an ever-increasing range” of public services, the regulator argued. What began as a convenient digital chip-and-pin card for specific services had become a classic case of function creep.