The Dutch ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport plans to introduce a new electronic file on every new-born, starting in January 2007. The file will contain information about the child, the family situation and its surroundings, later adding educational data, information from social workers and possible police records. The file will be principally maintained by youth doctors and medics working for the child public health care service. The file will be connected to the citizen service number, a new electronic ID for every Dutch resident and citizen replacing the old social-fiscal number. Secretary of State Clémence Ross explained: "Medics can easily trace the development and situation of a child and thus get a clear picture of its need for care. They can also see which other institutions work or have worked with a child. The electronic childfile thus helps the smooth hand-over between different caretakers."

It is not clear if the electronic file also requires biometric identifiers. In that case, another problem with biometrics will become apparent. Fingerprinting children, especially babies, can be very challenging. In an analysis of the first pilot with the issuing of biometric passports in the Netherlands, the Dutch institute for applied scientific research TNO concludes: "It is especially difficult to get babies to unclench their fists in order to take good prints." In addition, facial features of young children change rapidly, making subsequent automatic facial-verification unreliable.

The announcement of the ministry comes as an extra surprise given the recent spectacular hack of the databases of two hospitals in the Netherlands. The hackers - in collaboration with the direction of the hospitals - obtained access to records about 1.2 million people. The hack made it painfully clear the government plans to introduce electronic medical and medication files lack basic attention for security. Questions were immediately raised in Parliament, where the Minister admitted he was shocked by the hack. He promised he would raise the standards for security, but didn't promise to dedicate any extra money.

Press release Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (in Dutch, 16.09.2005)
http://www.minvws.nl/persberichten/djb/2005/kabinet-in-operatie-jong.a...

TNO report about the first trial with biometric passports (in Dutch, 12.09.2005)
http://www.minbzk.nl/persoonsgegevens_en/reisdocumenten/publicaties/ev...

Dutch treat: personal database (15.09.2005)
http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,68866,00.html