Israel Interior Minister Silvan Shalom announced he is extending the biometric database pilot program for identity cards for a nine month period, according to Jerusalem Post.

Shalom made the announcement a few hours before the State Comptroller Joseph Shapira released his heavily anticipated report about the pilot program.

In the report, Shapira concluded that the program had failed several of its benchmarks and that the Knesset should seriously consider all points before deciding on whether to officially implement the database.

The report pointed out many deficiencies of the program, including the absence of information regarding the database?s performance in preventing identity theft, the use of a defective fingerprint scanning process resulting in 430,000 defective scans, the use of a temporary and inaccurate database system and method of comparing the system?s results that has no long-term basis, not considering any alternative solutions to preventing identity theft, and ignoring the comptroller?s previous warnings of the database?s flaws.

In 2009, the Knesset first authorized the pilot to trial biometric identity cards ? which are linked to a database containing biometric data such as fingerprints and facial images ? in an effort to prevent people from using fake identity cards.

In August 2011, the Biometric Database Authority was established to manage the database, which was followed by the launch of the pilot on June 30, 2013. The first year saw 430,000 people voluntarily register, with over 700,000 people currently registered for the biometric card.

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