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US Expands Fingerprint and Mugshot Program for Visitors

prakslash writes "The US State Department has expanded its anti-terrorist fingerprinting program to include visitors from close US allies such as the UK, Australia, France, Germany and Japan. Everytime a visitor enters or leaves the US, they will have to get their mugshot and fingerprints taken - something that used to be mainly limited to your local police precinct. More news can be found here and here. In addition to the huge costs involved, one has to wonder if this will affect tourism to this country." Hmmm, a huge database of digital mugshots and digital fingerprints, which will be kept forever - hope we have enough RAM to search through it quickly and constantly.

9 of 1,073 comments (clear)

  1. Hey hey! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Frist post!

  2. Scenod oPst by Sour+Protein+Supreme · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I OWN A BUSINESS!!!!

  3. michael's ON THE SPOKE!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    w00t!!!

  4. Tihrd Psot!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    YEAH!!!

  5. Really... by neiffer · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    How much distance are we going to get out of that /. article on the massive government memory upgrade? :)

  6. We want more novels from P. G. Wodehouse! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    It was a little difficult to know how to begin, of course. I mean to say, while firmly resolved to tick him off, I didn't want to gash his feelings too deeply. Even when displaying the iron hand, we Woosters like to keep the thing fairly matey.

    However, on consideration, I saw that there was nothing to be gained by trying to lead up to it gently. It is never any use beating about the b.

    "Jeeves," I said, "may I speak frankly?"

    "Certainly, sir."

    "What I have to say may wound you."

    "Not at all, sir."

    "Well, then, I have been having a chat with Mr. Fink-Nottle, and he has
    been telling me about this Mephistopheles scheme of yours."

    "Yes, sir?"

    "Now let me get it straight. If I follow your reasoning correctly, you
    think that, stimulated by being upholstered throughout in scarlet tights,
    Mr. Fink-Nottle, on encountering the adored object, will vibrate his tail
    and generally let himself go with a whoop."

    "I am of opinion that he will lose much of his normal diffidence, sir."

    "I don't agree with you, Jeeves."

    "No, sir?"

    "No. In fact, not to put too fine a point upon it, I consider that of all
    the dashed silly, drivelling ideas I ever heard in my puff this is the
    most blithering and futile. It won't work. Not a chance. All you have
    done is to subject Mr. Fink-Nottle to the nameless horrors of a
    fancy-dress ball for nothing. And this is not the first time this sort
    of thing has happened. To be quite candid, Jeeves, I have frequently
    noticed before now a tendency or disposition on your part to
    become--what's the word?"

    "I could not say, sir."

    "Eloquent? No, it's not eloquent. Elusive? No, it's not elusive. It's on
    the tip of my tongue. Begins with an 'e' and means being a jolly sight
    too clever."

    "Elaborate, sir?"

    "That is the exact word I was after. Too elaborate, Jeeves--that is what
    you are frequently prone to become. Your methods are not simple, not
    straightforward. You cloud the issue with a lot of fancy stuff that is
    not of the essence. All that Gussie needs is the elder-brotherly advice
    of a seasoned man of the world. So what I suggest is that from now onward
    you leave this case to me."

    "Very good, sir."

    "You lay off and devote yourself to your duties about the home."

    "Very good, sir."

    "I shall no doubt think of something quite simple and straightforward yet
    perfectly effective ere long. I will make a point of seeing Gussie
    tomorrow."

    "Very good, sir."

    "Right ho, Jeeves."

    But on the morrow all those telegrams started coming in, and I confess
    that for twenty-four hours I didn't give the poor chap a thought, having
    problems of my own to contend with.

  7. Linux Experience by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
    Wow, so I was going to try to learn Linux and I found this on page THREE of the tutorial:

    There have been cases where I have frantically tried to stop a runaway program and repeatedly pressed Ctrl-C. The result is that the terminal gets into an undefined state whereby it does not react properly to any input, that is when you press the various keys. For example, pressing the enter key may not bring you to a new line (which it normally should do). If you try executing a command, it's possible to command is not executed properly, because the system has not identified the enter key correctly. You can return your terminal to a "sane" condition by inputting:

    stty sane Ctrl-J

    The Ctrl-J character is the line feed character and is necessary as the system does not recognize the enter key.

    Is this a joke? Please tell me Linux does not randomly have "runaway programs" going into "undefined states" whereby I have to type the "sane" command to get programs to "execute correctly".

    THIS is the Great Linux Hype I have been hearing about? You have to be kidding me... this is pathetic... truly sad. Linux appears to be a joke of a toy OS, only - with no toys (games) and the joke just isn't funny. Well, maybe a little. If you work at Microsoft.

  8. off topic but... by firew0lfz · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Was just watching PBS's NOW with Bill Moyers and he had just finished an interview with John Dean of Watergate fame, and who has just recently released a book entitled "Worse Than Watergate" which asks about most of the secrecy behind the Bush White House... does anyone else find this world we're living in just a bit more and more uglier on the road to November?

    And oh my, how I worry about the turnover to the Iraqis on July 1st...

    *shudder*

    Book is here:
    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail /-/0316 00023X/104-2596620-0532744?v=glance

    --
    Try not to let life get in the way of living.
  9. Re:how would you feel? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I fully expect people to not visit in droves.

    And I fully expect people to not split their infinitives.