About a month ago (April) the gymnasium GoFit on Campo Grande (Lisbon) started asking people their fingerprint as authentication method.
The justification for the measure is that people were cheating the system by sharing entry cards between friends. However, the measure is disproportionate and compromises people’s identity security.
A complaint has been made with the national data protection commission. We will see how the situation evolves. In the meantime let’s how the situation evolves
In a previous post an attempt was made to categorize the privacy/surveillance laws in portugal, including a section about biometric. I’m sure they must be violating some law. It’s just a matter of taking a look at that.
I think this is a very actionable thing. I was thinking that we could:
- Contact the member of the political party that presented the complaint to get some more information on the case and provide some assistance
- Talk to people at the entrance of the gymnasium to see what they think about that.
I’ve been talking with some people I know who use that gymnasium, and they are concerned but feel powerless.