Biometric data free of charge in the future?

We understand that you may have to show your ID card to verify your age when purchasing alcoholic beverages. No data — not even your age — is stored from your ID card. But now we are facing the threat of our data being sold off completely. With the planned EUDI wallet, our personal data will be handed over to corporations (and the state) on a silver platter. In the fall, we created a flyer about this.

Netzpolitik.org refers to the dangers of the EUDI wallet on epicenter.works:

The EU Commission will issue 40 EU regulations governing the use of the digital wallet. Only some of these are currently available in writing. The term "relying partiesr" is particularly problematic. These can be government agencies or private companies. In principle, all of these should be certified. Such registration certificates will now no longer be mandatory for the use of the EUDI wallet, but will only be optional.

Without such certification, there is no longer any indication as to whether data transfer (during the payment process) is really justified or necessary. Thomas Lohninger from epicenter.works warns, according to Netzpolitik.org: "Companies from countries such as Ireland could circumvent the wallet's protective mechanisms, making it possible to make illegal requests for too much information". Such an approach is unprofessional and, in terms of data protection, a back door for everyone.

The possibility provided for in the eIDAS Regulation to identify oneself for the wallet with self-chosen pseudonyms is also called into question in several ways by the Commission's proposals (see linked article). In addition, "curious" partners could even request biometric facial data from the wallet, as according to the current drafts, this data is to be included in the data set for user identification. Until now, the "minimum data set" only contained the user's full name, date and place of birth, and nationality.

Ten European NGOs have written an open letter to the EU Commission in which they echo the criticism voiced by epicenter.works.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Read more https://netzpolitik.org/2026/digitale-brieftasche-eu-kommission-will-amazon-dein-gesicht-geben/

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