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No, Swedes’ passports should not be linked to a DNA register to make it easier for the police. That is the opinion of the Swedish Privacy Protection Authority (IMY).
The authority is one of several referral bodies that are now making statements about the so-called biometrics investigation.
The investigation was presented this summer and briefly states that the police should be given greater authority to use registers with fingerprints, DNA, facial images and voice recordings. One of the proposals is to link that type of information, so-called biometric data, to the passport register. IMY does not think that is a wise idea.
“We assess that this proposal is against both the Swedish constitution and EU law and therefore discourage the proposal from being implemented,” says Lisa Zettervall, a lawyer at IMY, in a press release.
The IMY emphasizes that there is a great need to “deal with” serious crime in the country, but sees surveillance dangers with biometric records.
Regarding face recognition, which has also been on the news recently, Lisa Zettervall says in the press release:
“If a register for facial biometrics is created for the majority of the Swedish population, while facial recognition is allowed for camera surveillance in public places, it will in practice be possible to identify most people in public space.”