지문날인제도의 현황과 헌법적 문제점의 검토

Review of the Constitutional Issues over Fingerprinting System

&nbsp;&nbsp;The Resident Registration Act(RRA) prescribes fingerprints as one of the matters to be recorded on the resident registration card. Fingerprints, which reveal the uniqueness and identity of an individual, are personal information that makes possible distinguishing an information subject from others. Therefore, collection, storage, computerization, and use of personal fingerprint information restrict the right to control one&quot;s own personal information.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;But the RRA is only the basis for recoding fingerprint information of the resident registration card. It does not provide a statutory basis for the NPA Commissioner General to collect and store the original fingerprints. Also, the Act on the Protection of Personal Information Maintained by Public Agencies does not regulate matters such as the legitimacy of original information data before being processed by computer. Therefore, collection, storage, computerization, and use of fingerprints by the NPA Commissioner General all lack statutory bases and are against the principle of statutory reservation in restricting basic rights, the constitutional principles of free democracy, and the rule of law.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Moreover, it is difficult to acknowledge the need to collect the prints of all ten fingers instead of one in order to keep record of movement of population and to promote proper management of administrative affairs. Fingerprint information is currently using ordinary citizens&quot; request for issuance of resident registration cards as an opportunity to store and computerize the prints of all ten fingers of the citizens. In addition it is used for criminal investigation purposes without any restriction on its scope, subject, the right to control one&quot;s own personal information. Therefore, the fingerprinting system infringes on the complainants&quot; right to control one&quot;s own personal information in violation of the rule against excessive restriction.