Britain: Domestic Air Travelers to Be Photographed and Fingerprinted
March 9th, 2008Via: Telegraph:
Millions of British airline passengers face mandatory fingerprinting before being allowed to board flights when Heathrow’s Terminal 5 opens later this month.
For the first time at any airport, the biometric checks will apply to all domestic passengers leaving the terminal, which will handle all British Airways flights to and from Heathrow.
The controversial security measure is also set to be introduced at Gatwick, Manchester and Heathrow’s Terminal 1, and many airline industry insiders believe fingerprinting could become universal at all UK airports within a few years.
All four million domestic passengers who will pass through Terminal 5 annually after it opens on March 27 will have four fingerprints taken, as well as being photographed, when they check in.
To ensure the passenger boarding the aircraft is the same person, the fingerprinting process will be repeated just before they board the aircraft and the photograph will be compared with their face.
BAA, the company which owns Heathrow, insists the biometric information will be destroyed after 24 hours and will not be passed on to the police.
It says the move is necessary to prevent criminals, terrorists and illegal immigrants trying to bypass border controls.
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Although fingerprinting is carried out at some foreign airports – most notably in the US – as part of immigration checks for international arrivals, Heathrow will be the first to fingerprint domestic passengers before they board their flights.
Even if domestic passengers have a passport with them, they will still have to go through the biometric checks.
Dr Gus Hosein, of the London School of Economics, an expert on the impact on technology on civil liberties, is one of the scheme’s strongest critics.
He said: “There is no other country in the world that requires passengers travelling on internal flights to be fingerprinted. BAA says the fingerprint data will be destroyed, but the records of who has travelled within the country will not be, and it will provide a rich source of data for the police and intelligence agencies.
“I grew up in a society where you only fingerprinted people if you suspected them of being criminals. By doing this they will make innocent people feel like criminals.
“There will also be a suspicion that this is the thin end of the wedge, that we are being softened up by making fingerprinting seem normal in the run-up to things like ID cards.”
Mr Hosein claimed automatic fingerprint technology is only 90 per cent accurate at best, and clear fingerprints can be difficult to obtain.
Simon Davies, of campaign group Privacy International, suggested a photograph alone would be a perfectly adequate – and much cheaper – way of identifying passengers.
…the fingerprinting of domestic passengers is expected to be the first step in the increasing use of the technology for people coming to and from Britain.
Within the next few weeks BAA will announce plans for voluntary fingerprinting under a so-called “trusted traveller” scheme.
Those willing to have their fingerprints and passport information stored would be able to bypass immigration queues by placing their finger on a scanner instead of waiting to have their passport checked.
The move follows a trial of the technology, known as “miSense”, at Heathrow last year.
In the long term, fingerprinting could become even more widespread when the Government introduces tighter embarkation controls next year, which have not yet been specified but could range from having to show passports more often before boarding or using biometric checks.
I thought I read somewhere (here, maybe?) that Japan had started forcing travelers to submit a set of prints….also, I was selling a pair of earrings that I never wore anymore to a local pawn shop, and they wanted me to give them a thumbprint. They said it was to help keep their records straight, which sounded odd to me, so I said, “No, sorry, I don’t give that info out”. Man, people sure get pissy and uptight when you refuse them something, even if you’re polite about it.
star42- Japan is only doing it for foreigners right now. Britain is now doing it for everyone on domestic flights period (or at least those going through Terminal 5 at Heathrow). Eventually of course, all airports, all countries, and all citizens and non will be fingerprinted, IRIS-scanned, etc. If you want a peep at what it’ll probably look like within a few years, download a British tv show (you can find it easily on Bit Torrent) called “The Last Enemy”. It’s a really good show, 5 part series.
Ah, that’s what it was. Thanks for the info.