Classified materials of the biometric database to be transfered to the Digital Rights Movement

The High Court of Justice accepted the petitioner's claim, the Digital Rights Movement, and ordered the government to transfer most of the classified materials to opponents of the biometric database within a month and a half.
The petition was submitted about a year ago and touches upon the very necessity of the biometric database. The petition alleges that in a pilot conducted, the state did not take sufficient steps to ascertain its necessity.
The government submitted its response to the petition, but asked the Supreme Court to present the materials related to the decision-making processes behind the biometric database, one by one, on the grounds that they are confidential.
The hearing was held before Supreme Court justices Neil Hendel, Yitzhak Amit and Yosef Elron. In addition, there were serious disagreements between various government officials on the question of whether there is a real need to collect fingerprints or only internal images. After the state presented a summary of these materials to the Digital Rights Movement, the movement responded by claiming that these materials are not confidential, and in fact it is mandatory to publish some of them by law. In today's hearing, the Supreme Court accepted the movement's claim.
"The petition that we submitted a little over a year ago deals with the question of the necessity of the database, and after the question of necessity it is possible to ask whether the purpose is proper and only later how to apply it. "One of the petitioners, Doron Ofek, information security manager and SUSE Israel manager, told" Globes ".
After a one-sided hearing, Justice Handel told the petitioners: "The court held a long and one-sided discussion with the respondents and their representatives, and we said that some of the material has no reason to be confidential." There were a few more sensitive points that we think you have the right to know certain information, And for that purpose the state will submit a notice within a month and a half, and you will receive an opportunity to relate to the new material that you received. "
"The biometric database is designed so that police officers and government officials can compare fingerprints of a person to prints in the database, in order to verify the identity of that person," said Ofek.
Another example presented by the petitioners relates to one of the government's arguments regarding the necessity of the database, which claims that there are thousands of attempts to steal identity and impersonation, which the database can help thwart. During the course of the discussion it became clear that during the pilot there were 3 cases of impersonation at most. According to the petitioners, the obvious conclusion is that the very danger posed by mass forgery of civilian identities does not exist.
In addition, an opinion was submitted by the head of the cyber network regarding the biometric database. The opinion reveals disagreements regarding the biometric database between the biometric applications supervisor at the Prime Minister's Office and the biometric authority at the Ministry of the Interior. The opinion relates to the contents of the biometric database, with the question being asked whether there is a need to collect fingerprints in the database, or that the existing technological means enable sufficient biometric identification based on internal images only.
"According to the Commissioner, today there are technological means for identifying faces that enable the biometric database to be based solely on this biometrics, and that it will be possible to provide a proper response to the main purpose of the law - issuing identity documents."
It was further noted that the Commissioner's position is based on a dialogue he has conducted with several countries that manage national projects for the issue of documentation that rely on an internal biometric database. At the same time, "the head of the Authority, there are currently no technological means that enable us to rely solely on face recognition, in a way that stands in the error rates determined at the time in the order according to which the 'probationary period' was conducted."
The opinion of the head of the cyber network is that "in light of the professional disagreements between the head of the authority and the supervisor ... mutual reports must be conducted, a meaningful, actual examination of technological means for identifying faces must be conducted, For examination. " The target for the completion of the tests is the first half of 2019 - nearly two years after the database began to operate officially, and eight years after the completion of the pilot.
"It does not look good," says Ofek, "the picture that emerges is that the Interior Ministry built a reservoir without checking it to the end. "They did not say these things, but two months ago a tender for services was issued for the biometric database, in which the state wrote that the backup of the database should move from the Bezeq farm to the government farm in Be'er Sheva "Suddenly, you say, 'OK, it makes sense for it to move to Beersheba, but what did he do with Bezeq in the first place?'"
The State Attorney's Office stated that "the court reviewed the confidential document submitted by the state and offered to reveal a minor part of it, which the state did not object to, and within 45 days, as proposed by the court. In any case, the head of the cyber network recently submitted to the Minister of the Interior an opinion as required by the amendment to the law of February 2017. In his opinion, the head of the cyber network recommended that the database be held in camera, To the Minister of the Interior not to change at this stage the format prescribed by law, and also recommended conducting examinations in the matter For the purpose of another opinion to be submitted in accordance with the law in another year and a half. "