Finland mulling over use of passport fingerprints in criminal investigations

The Finnish Ministry of Interior has launched a study on data sharing of identification documents for criminal investigations. The study seeks to establish whether and how fingerprint data from passports and identity cards could be used in investigations of serious crimes. This follows an update on the European Union Data Protection Directive, which has seen the Finnish Parliament also revise the Act on the Processing of Personal Data. The study will also address the use of photographs as well as facial recognition technology.