ELECTORAL COMMISSION (EC) & FACIAL RECOGNITION: HOW RELEVANT IS THIS FACIAL RECOGNITION IN A NON E-VOTING ENVIRONMENT. TEST OF THE MANDATE OF THE DATA PROTECTION COMMISSION(DPC
INTRODUCTION
It looks like I have to
do re-mix some of my earlier articles to give it a refocus since the issues of
the EC and biometrics still remains relevant. My concern now is with the
Electoral Commission (EC), aside our thumbprint wanting to capture our facials
as part of their biometrics database for the purposes of voting. How relevant
is this when we are not using e-voting technology but our traditional paper
based system?
Basically, data
protection principles require that data collected must:
i.
be obtained and processed fairly,
ii.
have been obtained for specified or explicit and legitimate purposes,
iii.
not be further processed in a manner
incompatible with that purpose or those purposes,
iv.
be retained subject to appropriate
security measures against unauthorized access, and
v.
be processed in accordance with the
rights of data subjects.
The object of the Data
Protection Commission (DPC) in Act 843 is to:
(a)
protect the privacy of the individual and personal data by regulating
the
processing of personal information, and
(b) provide the process to obtain, hold, use or disclose personal
information.
Our concern therefore must
be with the legal basis for which
the EC intends to capture our facials and not the usefulness of what they want
to do with it. The DPC must therefore give us the comfort by answering the
following:
1.
whether or not the face geometry including
iris the EC wants to capture is relevant and not excessive for the purposes of
our current voting system.
2.
whether or not by capturing our face geometry
including iris the rights of the data subject by way of right to privacy is not being infringed upon.
Why we should be
concerned is the unintended uses of biometric databases called “function creep” which I will explain.
LEGAL
JUSTIFICATION AND FUNCTION CREEP
Act 843 is a sword for the EC
if it wants to embark on the should I say “extended biometrics” and also a shield for us the citizens if
we want to protect our constitutional right to privacy. Section 22 of Act 843 allows the EC
as a data controller to collect personal data for a purpose which is specific, explicitly defined and lawful and is related to their functions or activity
but the EC under sections 20 and 23, must make us the citizens aware of the
purpose giving us the right to object and stop such processing. Who is the
referee? The DPC
Act 843 of course gives
instances when personal data can be collected but Section 19 of Act 843 requires that personal data is only processed
if the purpose for which it is to be processed, is necessary, relevant
and
not excessive. DPC what is your take with what the
EC wants to do?
Although the benefit of biometric
database is unquestionable, there is the downside of abuse of the database. Once
it is set up, there can be uses for it without boundaries. The functionality of
the biometrics are with respect to either
verification (a one-to-one
search or comparison to determine if Anokye is who he claims to be and for this
whether he is entitled to enter a building or entitled to vote, thereby seeking
to answer the question : Are you who you
claim to be?) and identification (a one-to-many search
or comparison to determine if Anokye’s biometric characteristics is in the
central database or his biometric characteristics collected independently can
be matched to a name in the database, thereby seeking to answer the question: Do I know who you are?
The unintended dangers of
function creeping with biometric
databases to the extent that the EC wants to go should be every citizens
concern. Function creep is where a
technology is introduced to do one popular cool thing (function) but later used
to do other things which may be unpopular un-cool things (functions), meaning
the original function has “crept” into another unrelated function. These could
be both planned and unplanned and with the way the world is going one can never
tell whether the actual function of the need for our biometrics is the voting or
there is some “invincible hand” telling us that it is the way to go which looks
credible on the face of it and harmless hence ready to even fund it but later
collect data for other reasons.
Our worst fear should be
our relatives and friends in the diaspora. The enforcement of data protection laws
in the developed countries are so stringent that in as much as “big brother” may want to collect
biometrics on foreigners they would have limitations so the way out is to come
to “data havens” where there is so
much ignorance like Ghana, fund the collection and later twist our arms to have
access. In no time all our people will be traced in the name of voting. Their right to be left alone to enjoy a
peaceful life with or without “papers” would
be gone. “Big brother” has patience and this could be a 10-year agenda then
the request is made, tied to loans and aid. Tell me which African government
wanting to stay in power and needs funding will not compromise.
Some have struggled to
leave this country and are remitting family and friends as a way to support our
communities financially and to help alleviate poverty. Do we think all the
inward remittances are coming from only people with a legal right to live
abroad? They too, have the right to be left alone. Or we see it as our duty to
help them. DPC is the facial recognition just nice to have or critical to our
right to vote? If we can do without it please let us do without it. How strong is
our Data Protection Commission to stop or sanction the EC should there be any
function creep?
Who for example gave the
Electoral Commission the right to give access to our voters register for the
banks to do verification of financial transactions? It is good to detect fraud
but was it part of the original plan of collecting our information electronically
or a “function creep”. Do the banks pay for it? Is it part of EC’s internally
generated funds? In filling the forms, were we informed on this further and
unrelated use? Is it just possible they will
likewise give access to the biometric database to international bodies in the
name of fighting crime and terrorism? If yes, let us all agree by way of
legislation on how the biometric database should be used so we take informed
decision. After all that is our individual human right.
CONCLUSION
Our “digital persona” as data
subjects must be protected before we create a digital monster that cannot be
controlled or killed. Once the EC is collecting our biometric characteristics
together with our personal details (residence, place of work, age etc) for
identification purposes there is the need for our fundamental human right to
privacy or “right to be left alone” to be protected. The national ID collected
our iris and I guess we can live with it though the risk of function creep
exist but what has facial recognition got to do with our current voting system
that the thumbprint that has already been captured cannot do. Voting is just one aspect of our lives and DPC
must let us know if the EC would be going against Act 843 and even if not,
looking at the possible unintended “function creep” use by “big brother” should
we even if legal, not find an alternative way of achieving the intended use
since we are not going to e-vote. I find it unnecessary and excessive for the
intended purpose. DPC address the following:
1.
whether or not the face geometry including
iris the EC wants to capture is relevant and not excessive for the purposes of
our current voting system.
2.
whether or not by capturing our face
geometry including iris the rights of the data subject by way of right to privacy is not being
infringed upon.
Also, are we presently
able to answer the two questions Are you
who you claim to be? and Do I know who you
are? If yes is the facial recognition excessive? Is it relevant? DPC help us
out, your mandate is to the test. Show you are in charge. Can you?
The
author Dr. Kofi Anokye Owusu-Darko, holds an EMBA (IT Management) and an LLM
(IT & Telecommunication ). Email: kofianokye18@gmail.com or visit kofianokye.blogspot.com
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