DATA MINING OF BIOMETRIC DATA: REVISITING THE CONCEPT OF PRIVATE LIFE?

Resumen

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.