Brazil to create single citizen database, raising privacy concerns

According to ZDNet, the Brazilian government is expected to create a single citizen database that will contain a wide range of personal information about the country’s population of over 200 million people, to be fully shared across departments. According to Biometric Update, the database is mandated in a decree aiming at public policy improvement and simplified data sharing between government departments. The shared data will include a broad range of biographic and biometric information, including fingerprint, iris, face, voice, and gait biometrics. The implementation of the database is being led by the Secretariat for Digital Government, while a Central Committee for Data Governance has also been created as part of the same decree. Meanwhile, the board for the National Authority for Data Protection, which is the overarching body that is supposed to oversee all data matters in Brazil, is yet to be announced.