Sen. Franken Questions Apple on Privacy Implications of New iPhone Fingerprint Technology
Baku, September 21 (AZERTAC). U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) raised privacy questions about the inclusion of a fingerprint reader on Apple`s new iPhone 5S. The fingerprint reader, Touch ID, would allow iPhone users to more easily protect their mobile devices and make it more likely that users would take the important step of securing their devices. But in a letter sent to Apple last night, Sen. Franken said this new technology also raises substantial privacy questions, because while passwords and PINs can be changed an infinite number of times, fingerprints are permanent and finite.
"It`s clear to me that Apple has made a good-faith effort to secure this technology and implement it responsibly," said Sen. Franken. "At the same time, this new ground-breaking technology raises important privacy questions for millions of users in Minnesota and around the country. I`ve written to Apple to begin a conversation to help ensure customers can have a better understanding of how their privacy is being safeguarded and to help ensure it`s safeguarded in the future."
In his letter, Sen. Franken asked a series of questions to help iPhone users in Minnesota and across the country better understand the steps Apple has taken to secure their private biometric information and how they intend to use this technology in the future. Sen. Franken also pressed Apple to explain the legal protections that the company would afford the fingerprint data generated by Touch ID. You can download a copy of the letter here.
In April of 2011, Sen. Franken, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law, asked Apple to address privacy concerns around their new operating system that security researchers said secretly stored users` location data. In May of that year, he held his first subcommittee hearing on the topic and questioned executives from Apple and Google on their location tracking software, and later pressed the companies to adopt privacy policies for all apps made for their mobile devices. In the wake of that hearing and other troubling revelations about location tracking software, Sen. Franken introduced the Location Protection Privacy Act of 2012, which passed the Senate Judiciary Committee with bipartisan support in December. Sen. Franken has a longstanding interest in the privacy implications of biometric technology. Last week, Sen. Franken also sent a letter to Facebook calling on them to reconsider expanding their facial recognition program in a way that would likely enroll some of Facebook`s least active users into what is already likely the world`s largest privately held facial recognition database. In July of 2012, Chairman Franken held a hearing on facial recognition technology. He pressed Facebook to adopt greater privacy safeguards at the hearing, saying the emerging technology can be used to ascertain personal information using nothing more than an individual`s appearance on the street or in a photo.
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