1. This article is based on a series of previous publications, in particular Informatiestrategie voor ketensamenwerking (‘Information strategy for chain co-operation), Sdu Uitgevers, The Hague, 2002, ISBN 90 1209 697 9, “Biometrics and Privacy”, in: [2001] 17 CLSR 154-160, Elsevier Science Ltd, Oxford, UK, ISSN 02673649 and “Personal numbers and identity fraud, number strategies for security and privacy in an information society”, in: [2002] 18 CLSR 327-332 (Part I) and [2002] 18 CLSR 387-395 (Part II), Elsevier Science Ltd, Oxford, UK, ISSN 02673649.
2. Dr mr J.H.A.M. Grijpink, economist and lawyer by education and information strategist by profession, is Principle Advisor at the Strategy Development Department of the Netherlands Ministry of Justice. In 1975 he obtained a postgraduate degree in management consultancy at the Stichting interacademiale opleiding organisatiekunde (SIOO) and in 1997 his Ph.D. at the Technical University of Eindhoven. He is a Certified Management Consultant (CMC) and a Registered Information Expert (RI).
3. This is a body-related characteristic, for instance the fingerprint or the voice, that can be used as a digital key to get or give access to processes and data or to recognise somebody by electronic means.
4. This relatively light classification with ditto punishment doesn't really put up barriers for someone who thus wants to make himself untraceable. The lawmaker clearly considers this offence as a stand-alone misdemeanour and not as the preparatory phase and success factor for all sorts of crimes, even capital crime.
5. A biometric template is a number that is calculated using typical features of a body-related characteristic, e.g. the location in a fingerprint where lines join or separate or show interruptions. This number is recalculated at the moment of identity check. If the new value corresponds more or less with the reference value, the person checked is supposed to be the same person as the person that was measured in the first place.