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British Government to Fingerprint All Air Travelers

by Terrence O'Brien on July 30, 2008 at 02:10 PM

British Government to Fingerprint All Air Travelers
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. [Source: Daily Mail]

Tags: airport, privacy, security, summernews, travel

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