The Israeli government passed the biometric database regulation an order that will see the collection of fingerprint data and a photograph from all the country’s citizens to be collected in a central database, according to a 972 magazine article.

The final approval of the regulations was signed off by MK Meir Sheetrit, who had also introduced the measures two-years ago when he was in the position of the Minister of the Interior.

As the regulation stands, the database would be accessible by the Ministry of the Interior, the police and other government security services. Due to public outcry against the new policy, however, the collection and storage of biometric data will kick off with a pilot program starting in November and spanning no more than four years, the purpose of which is to determine whether or not there is an actual need for the program at all.

Should the pilot be successful and result in the government deciding it needs a biometric database as a means to protect Israeli citizens from identity theft and prevent ID forgery, biometric registration will become required of the country’s citizens with refusal to submit biometric data resulting in a prison term up to a year.

Despite the government’s insistence that the program is being created chiefly for the protection of its citizen’s identities, many are up in arms over the lack of necessity and the potential for an even less secure system being put in place due to biometric data being unable to be reset or changed as is the case for an individual who has had a unique identification number like a social security number compromised.

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