Data mining of biometric data: revisting the concept of private life?

Abstract

Over recent years, a whole new process known as data mining, equivalent to automated techniques processing large sets of data in order to extract patterns, relationships, trends and other information not traceable through usual ‘human’ reading, has been largely gaining in repute. By taking advantage of the seemingly indefinite opportunities enabled by applications of data mining techniques, various fields of scientific or medical research, business transactions, state-related and other security-concerned activities, could gain unprecedented benefits. However, notwithstanding established data protection principles reserved also for biometric information, data mining practices, inherently intrusive in the private sphere of individuals, have generated various concerns and controversy. As these emerging technological developments create new challenges to the protection of personal data, including primarily the most sensitive category of biometric data, the effectiveness of the concept of privacy under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and of the existing EU data protection legislation in securing an adequate legal framework is facing a new ordeal. This paper seeks to review, especially in the aftermath of the recent Luxembourg Court’s case law, whether evolving data mining practices materialize the need of adjusting the legal treatment of biometric data protection.