US Visitor Fingerprints to be Scanned

Sometime this summer, the US government will require visitors -- including those from Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and other European Union nations -- to have all 10 fingers scanned when entering the United States. Currently, under the US-Visit program, certain non-U.S. citizen visitors must have two fingers scanned and a photograph taken.

The move to scan all 10 fingers is in the name of fighting terrorism. It is more secure than the two finger method and is becoming the international standard.

This information -- compatible with the FBI's fingerprint database -- will be shared with the FBI and other international intelligence agencies with no restrictions on use.

Ten airports will initially be involved including Miami, Washington and New York. Airports across the country are expected to do the scan by the end of 2008.

Urthwalker at The Hindsight Factor points out some problems with plan:

But hey, why not further bankrupt our grandchildren, bankrupt our morality, and overload law enforcement with useless clutter – there’s a war going on!

Koen Crolla at Rosio Pavoris reveals the possibility of technical error:

Even if you don’t object to being treated like a criminal for no reason, keep in mind that fingerprint identification has a pretty high error rate, and these prints will mostly be taken by inexperienced staff using equipment that takes thousands every day.

-Dippold

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