Analysis of Biometric Data Under the General Data Protection Regulation[Analýza biometrických údajů v kontextu obecného nařízení o ochraně osobních údajů]

The article deals with the topical issue of the current digital age, the questions related to the legal protection of biometric data, including the potentiality of their misuse. These issues have not yet been systematically addressed in the Czech Republic and there is no statistical data on public attitudes towards biometric data and its use. This article presents an analysis of the current legal regulation, which places a significantly higher standard than the previous legislation on the processing of biometric data as a special category of personal data. The authors considered both particular consequences of the impact of this regulation on human privacy and principles of this regulation as well as the subjective perception of the most important attributes of the behaviour of the main actors. The aim of the article is to contribute to raising the awareness of the risks of using biometric data and to contribute to explaining the key principles of GDPR in its application to biometrics. The article also discusses the related outputs of the sociological survey of CVVM showing that Czech population prefers the protection of their privacy over user comfort (three to one ratio). About 71% of all respondents have heard about biometric data and almost half of them have at least a rough idea what biometric data is. However, only 70% of respondents realize that modern technologies make it possible to collect, process and (mis)use personal data, even without their knowledge or consent.