Israel’s Interior Ministry has agreed to review its ID card pilot to examine whether creating a single, centralised biometric database is the best option.

According to the Jerusalem Post, civil rights groups and data security campaigners petitioned the court in February, warning that government plans for a centralised database comprised ‘a sensitive and powerful resource that provides an unprecedented mechanism for surveillance and control’.

The petitioners argued that the pilot had deliberately omitted any study of alternatives to a centralised database, and said the ministry should examine whether there were other options that could prevent data leaks or information theft.

Although the petition was rejected as premature as the pilot has not yet started, judges accepted the argument that the state should evaluate its plans to consider whether it is necessary to store citizen’s biometric data in a single, centralised database.