Biometric meetings to tackle security issues

An important meeting on Biometrics and Security in Global Perspective will be held in Washington, D.C. on 5-6 May. Organized by the Centre for Policy on Emerging Technologies , this event is part of the RISE project (Rising pan-European and International Awareness on Biometrics and Security Ethics), a task 2 initiative sponsored by the Directorate European Research Area of the European Commission that aims to contribute to the creation of a common strategic vision on responsible biometric innovation among the main international players.

The organizers say that RISE is ensuring continuity and is broadening the international dialogue already instigated by the previous project BITE and two international conferences on ethics and governance of biometrics held in Brussels (2005) and in Washington, D.C.(2006). After a series of regional events promoted by a second European project, HIDE — which included conferences in Singapore, Prague, and Ljubljana — RISE has now been enlarging the context to Asia, notably with a conference co-organized with the Indian Ministry of Info Technology in Delhi (Biometrics and Data Protection, Data Security Council of India, New Delhi, 24-25 September 2009), and the international conference on ethics and governance of biometrics in Hong Kong (International Conference on Ethics and Policy of Biometrics, Hong Kong, 4-5 January 2010).

RISE release says that the experience developed with all these events shows that regular, non official, communication between international actors may play an important role in the governance of biometric technology. “Very often actors do not have different worldviews but different perceptions and interpretation of certain common values such as privacy, liberty, common good, openness, accountability,” RISE says.

Yet any appeal to the commonality of values is an empty slogan if it is not translated into a commonality of approach. This is often prevented by factors like the different political roles in the international arena; the economic dimension of the homeland security market and the unavoidable competition between national industries; different regulatory approaches to issues such as biometric information, data protection, and data sharing. In such a context the development of a permanent infrastructure for dialogue may become the building block of a political environment, which may encourage mutual understanding, the creation of new ideas, and strong problem-solving relationships.

For those interested in attending: Keynote speakers will include the European Data Protection Supervisor, Peter Hustinx, the Chief Privacy Officer of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Mary Ellen Callahan, the Director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s US- VISIT program, Robert Mocny, the Director of the European Research Area, Octavi Quintana Trias, and other high rank officers, as well as stakeholders from industries, the academia community and opinion leaders.