One thing that i would prefer in biometrics would be that the iris/fingerprints get treated as what they are publicly available and easily obtainable data.

At worst using it a a secret key is similar to using your name as a hidden variable for authorisation, whent it sshould strictly be a identification token.And once leaked you cant revoke it .

Back on topic , a Gattaca type system is unbelievably bleak and when(not if) it is finallly shoved through.It wont take long to foist it on the rest of the planet (see the recent visa requirements viz social media and insane bond requirements demanded of some countries like Mali citizens being asked for $15K per visa application).

Absolutely not. That is legitimately beyond insane.

Fingerprints are used for investigating crimes. Giving them the access to this information before hand puts you as being investigated everytime they find a fingerprint at a crime scene.

DNA too. Until 2018 it was used here as waterproof evidence until the police managed to lock up an innocent person based on DNA and blurry surveillance camera photos only. He was only exonerated because the real perpetrator was caught by chance and confessed a week later.

The transmission chain that was later identified on CCTV was hand to escalator rail to hand, a 2+ km walk, and finally hand to latex glove.

Biometrics are identification means (including DNA).

They can be used to uniquely identify you, but they're not secret. You literally leave fingerprints and DNA everywhere you go, and obtaining your biometrics is not as hard as guessing your password.

Biometrics should be used for identification, for authentication along with other means (passwords, PIN, device keys, etc), and never for authorization.

It'll be treated just as stupidly as Social Security numbers, and soon we'll have biometric data breaches. >sigh<

Aside: Social Security numbers should be public now, too. That ship sailed a long time ago and it should be recognized.

A coworker from Chile has described their equivalent to a SSN as being used as a public ID rather than a password. Every IT company and government service has the same primary key in their database for each citizen. Wouldn't that be great!

My question would be how do we get there?

Biometrics can be a secure secret key, as long as there's a trusted guard manning the reader, ensuring that you're showing your real fingerprint / face and not a fake.

Why should they be publicly available and easily obtainable?

You don't leave iris prints everywhere you go. Even most fingerprints you leave are unusable for identification. Contrary to what CSI may have taught most Americans, even usable DNA samples aren't a given.

Biometrics aren't "publicly available" let alone "easily obtainable". They're easy to extract from you but this is why extraction and retention of this kind of data should be considered extremely invasive and sensitive. That wallet in your pocket may be "publicly available and easily obtainable" but that doesn't mean we should treat it as such - rather we should make sure it's actually illegal to do so without your consent: that's why theft is a crime.