The dangers of collecting biometrics: the entrepreneur described the ordeal with public services

The controversial and controversial law on biometrics has been passed in the final third reading in Russia. They want to convince us that biometrics will be collected from citizens voluntarily, and this bill was developed precisely for this purpose – to streamline everything. But so far there is no punishment for those who will try to force citizens to hand over their data.

Although already now biometrics is actually a compulsory measure. It is collected, for example, in banks. You can, of course, download the rights, but what will it give?

Sole proprietor Alexander spoke about his sad experience with biometrics.

“I needed State Services to be able to draw up financial documents. My profile itself has existed since 2017, and there is simplified access to most options, – the man shared. – I started to figure out how to do this, and I was told that in order to get full access, I need to go with a passport and SNILS – to social security, the MFC, to the post office or to one of the accredited banks. I called and they told me directly that biometrics would be required.

– What is full access?

– Access to the state key, where you can sign many documents – for example, correct data in the USRN, register an electronic contract of sale, even a marriage can be terminated by mutual agreement, but only with a verified account.

– Can’t you stay on the simplified access?

– Can. But then only minimal functionality remains. For example, you can make an appointment with a doctor if you download the CHI policy. Any serious financial transactions only through in-depth access, and there they require biometrics. Just in case, I entered the data of my passport and SNILS into the system, suddenly something changed, but silence has been over a week.

– Do you think this law will improve something? After all, they promise us that all data will be taken only on a voluntary basis and at any time consent to the use of one’s biometrics can be taken away.

– I think it will be like a joke. How to make a cat voluntarily eat mustard – smear her tail and lick everything herself.

What awaits us in the future? Many experts fear that sooner or later, with this approach, we will come to a real dystopia. Approximately, it will look like this: gradually, to the basic biometrics (face and voice), a person’s gait, gestures, and facial expressions will be added on a sly. All this is simply collected through video cameras, fortunately, they are everywhere now.

Over time, the artificial intelligence system, through this disparate information, will recreate a complete digital copy (double, copy) of a person. And there is nowhere to hide. Any violation – he switched to a red light, had a fight on the street, participated in a rally – is simply monitored and punished.

No one can escape responsibility. You behave correctly and well from the point of view of the state – no one touches your digital twin, well, and if something went wrong somewhere, the digital twin loses a number of functions. His physical embodiment remains, but in fact there are no rights anymore. You won’t get a salary, you won’t take a loan from a bank, you won’t be able to get a job (who will take such an unreliable person?) You won’t see a doctor, you won’t have a bank account, and so on.

In fact, this is a “delete” button for deleting any of the society, turning into a digital homeless person.

But it is, of course, the day to come. Well, for now, the adopted law does not explain in any way how today it will be possible to prevent possible leaks of biometric data from the general database by fraudsters.

There is a possibility of hacking for almost any site, even a commercial one, even a state one. Biometric data can be used to generate a key that is used as a digital signature. And with a digital signature, you can fix any documents – for the transfer of real estate, for example. That is, ideally, by stealing your biometrics, you can safely impersonate you. In the current circumstances, it is unlikely that they will figure out who is right and who is wrong. So you can become not a digital, but a real homeless person right now.