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EU Plans to Require Biometrics for Visitors
bushwhacker2000 writes to tell us that the EU may soon be requiring travelers to provide biometric data before crossing into Europe. They are trying to soften the blow by offering "streamlined" services for frequent travelers but the end result seems the same. "The proposals, contained in draft documents examined by the International Herald Tribune and scheduled to go to the European Commission on Wednesday, were designed to bring the EU visa regime into line with a new era in which passports include biometric data. The commission, the EU executive, argues that migratory pressure, organized crime and terrorism are obvious challenges to the Union and that the bloc's border and visa policy needs to be brought up to date."
Ugh.
:-(
One of the reasons I'm so worried to see the downward trend towards fascism in the United States is that in many ways Europe is not going in the opposite direction, it is simply lagging behind. Sure, I came to live in Switzerland, but I'm always seeing the same political abuses start to happen here just a few years after they start to happen in the United States, the same pro-corporations laws like the DMCA and the same trampling on people's rights, just a bit delayed.
Somehow this happening in the EU does not really surprise me.
Well, to be fair, we started it.
Breakfast served all day!
Since when are pictures and finger prints NOT biometric data?
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Personally, I think this nonsense has more to do with xenophobia, racism, and political control than with combating actual terrorism.
When all else fails, run.
It IS the US's fault.
This is just tit-for-tat: the US requires the same things of Europeans entering the US, and the EU is returning the favor.
Chad. They have no biometrics at the border - you can just stroll right in, with nary a fingerprint reader or retina scanner in sight.
Do bring a machete, though.
...following the principles of Heisenburger's Uncertain Cat...
We'll be harassing air travelers, while the (ever moving) eastern border is a proverbial highway for illegal travel. 'Cause Al-Qaeda prefers to fly first class before they blow themselves up, that will show them.
For the perfect anti-Unix, write an OS that thinks it knows what you're doing better than you do and let it be wrong.
Not that the european governements complained to hard. Citizens, yes. Governements no.
It is real simple, both are way to happy that the other checks their citizens in a way they can not do themselves because their own laws do not allow that.
The home of the free is not that free anymore. Mostly because the bave are not that brave anymore either.
Umm, both America and Europe now. Maybe it's time to refresh the tree of liberty with the blood of tyrants?
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
People missed the primary core part of this. If you have to take biometrics on entry, that means your own citizens as well as visitors. The EU biometric stuff has been going on for some time. Its all explained or hidden away in various guises but its there.
The 'Empire' is slowly moving from Utopian Europe to a darker phase.
And yes, I know, I know, if you have done nothing wrong you have nothing to fear. Only these people love to create new things wrong you may have done. In the UK now, if you smoke, drink, or happen to be fat, suddenly you've been added to the list. That autocratic disease is spreading.
You can bet your bottom dollar biometrics will be in the front line of 'taxing' holiday makers and frequent flyers, only the beginning off course - Plenty more to follow.
400 million WILL eventually regret allowing their leaders to create a new dictatorship, its just going to take time for people to wake up to the monster they have allowed to be created.
We`re all equal
It's patriots and tyrants, and the trick is to find the patriots who are willing to refresh the tree of liberty with their own blood as well as that of tyrants.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Like the U.S. system of past and present...both.
The chipped passports have a copy of what is printed on the face plus the extra biometric bits, all of which is also stored in a database, including reconciled entries for your previous visits through passport control. If the printed information or chip output differ from the central copy, they know it has been tampered with. This is not a terribly large departure from what already has been happening for decades when they scan your passport or punch in the number to pull up the record manually. The only difference in any of this is that they're adding a couple extra fields that don't really lend themselves to visual inspection. The cross-border data sharing and centralized collection within each country isn't remotely a new idea.
Besides, the more "secure" the document gets in the sense of positively linking it to the person carrying it, the less frightful the consequences of losing it. Not long ago, if you were roughly the same height/weight/age/gender, you could pretty well just pick a passport out of a stack provided by the hotel maid service. I mean, 6'1" brown/brown 180lbs 30yo male isn't a very precise set of biometrics, which doesn't sound too terrible until someone matching your description smuggles drugs into the country on your passport before you realize it went missing. If they can solve the question of "is this REALLY you" with an iris scan and a fingerprint, roughly 99.9% of the stolen document industry will disappear leaving only the most ridiculous James Bond worthy scenarios to worry about.
The bottom line is that the document is an assertion of the holder's identity. You have a personal interest in ensuring that you are the only one who can use it to successfully make that assertion.
Too bad most people in the modern world are perfectly content with losing their rights, provided that they still have their blackberries, TVs, cheap gasoline, houses and the illusion of security from terrorists.
Yeah, it's probably not as bad as all that, but it sure does feel that way sometimes, doesn't it?
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
The article yesterday about electronics seizure at US airports bought out a lot of snotty, holier-than-thou trolls of European origin eager to mock the overly paranoid US airport "security" force.
I hope this current news item forces these folks to realize that this isn't just a US problem, it's a global problem with paranoia. And until there's global political climate change, flying internationally is just going to become more and more of a hassle for everyone.
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it! --Longbottle
It erodes your rights because the Government (at least here in the States, dunno about down under) would usually need probable cause before it could compel you to turn over biometrics (DNA, fingerprints, etc). I.e: You'd need to be accused of a crime with at least some underlying evidence before they could compel you to turn it over.
Ah, but now they can demand them to get a passport (or worse yet: drivers license). If you complain the answer will invariability be something along the lines of "Well, travel is a privilege and not a right". As if the Government is a parent that gets to dole out "permission" to the children before they can do stuff.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Armed insurrection.
For somewhat less impact, writing to your local elected representative and your European parliament members may be a less dramatic and more appropriate starting point.