www.infowars.com/print/bb/database_sahre.htm (full article here)
Biometrics - great hope for world security or triumph for Big Brother?
"British police will almost certainly be given access in the near future to US intelligence databases containing DNA samples, fingerprints and digital images of thousands of foreign nationals seized around the world by the US as terror suspects.
As the war on terror increasingly comes to rely on biometric technology - the use of physical characteristics unique to individuals such as iris pattern, DNA and fingerprints to verify identify - western police and intelligence agencies are drawing up plans for sophisticated biometric databases which would allow them to share sensitive information.
Last night, civil liberties campaigners voiced concerns about governments sharing biometric data through international databases. "There is now a total obsession with this technology as a way of combatting anything and everything and it's a fallacy," said Barry Hugill of Liberty. "Once you begin to compile massive databases it's a matter of common sense that you are going to get the most horrendous mix-ups, with the wrong people being accused and the the wrong information being shared around the world."
British law enforcement and intelligence agencies believe that access to the US databases will streamline international cooperation between police forces and make it much harder for terror suspects known to one country to enter another. The data would be used mainly to vet people travelling to the UK, either at the point where they apply for visas or when they reach a British airport or port.
Ian Brown, director of the Foundation for Information Policy Research said: "British police are very much moving towards a model in which they obtain as much data, biometric or otherwise, on individuals and share it as widely as possible. The danger is that information about British citizens will be shared with the Americans and there are very few safeguards on how this can be used by the US authorities who have a very different idea to privacy and data protection from us."
Biometrics - great hope for world security or triumph for Big Brother?
"British police will almost certainly be given access in the near future to US intelligence databases containing DNA samples, fingerprints and digital images of thousands of foreign nationals seized around the world by the US as terror suspects.
As the war on terror increasingly comes to rely on biometric technology - the use of physical characteristics unique to individuals such as iris pattern, DNA and fingerprints to verify identify - western police and intelligence agencies are drawing up plans for sophisticated biometric databases which would allow them to share sensitive information.
Last night, civil liberties campaigners voiced concerns about governments sharing biometric data through international databases. "There is now a total obsession with this technology as a way of combatting anything and everything and it's a fallacy," said Barry Hugill of Liberty. "Once you begin to compile massive databases it's a matter of common sense that you are going to get the most horrendous mix-ups, with the wrong people being accused and the the wrong information being shared around the world."
British law enforcement and intelligence agencies believe that access to the US databases will streamline international cooperation between police forces and make it much harder for terror suspects known to one country to enter another. The data would be used mainly to vet people travelling to the UK, either at the point where they apply for visas or when they reach a British airport or port.
Ian Brown, director of the Foundation for Information Policy Research said: "British police are very much moving towards a model in which they obtain as much data, biometric or otherwise, on individuals and share it as widely as possible. The danger is that information about British citizens will be shared with the Americans and there are very few safeguards on how this can be used by the US authorities who have a very different idea to privacy and data protection from us."
