British Government to Fingerprint All Air Travelers!!!!!!!

by **J The Kidd** Thu Jul 31, 2008 2:09 am

It's bad enough that you can't walk around the streets of the United
Kingdom with out ending up on closed circuit security camera somewhere,
but now the government wants to track every air passenger, domestic and
international, with photographs and fingerprints, says the Daily Mail.
What's worse is some charge that the move is all in the name of making
a buck.

New shopping areas and lounges in British airports mix domestic and
international fliers in one area so that all can take advantage of the
duty free shopping. But these common departure areas come with a whole
new set of security issues to confront, like the possibility that a
international terrorist or criminal could arrive on an international
flight then meet up with an accomplice in the departure gate and swap
tickets for a domestic carrier.

To avoid such a catastrophe, new security measures are being put in
place that would photograph and fingerprint every passenger upon
entering the departure area, and reconfirm their identity before
boarding the plane. As usual, privacy advocates are in an uproar, and
not without precedent. A similar policy at Heathrow had to be scrapped
after the British Information Commissioner warned them that it was a
violation of data protection laws.

Of course, the new invasive security measures and dangers to citizens
could all be avoided if the airports weren't so keen to make an extra
buck off of domestic passengers who normally don't have access to duty
free shops.