British Airport Will Require Fingerprints From Domestic Passengers

ProfBooty brings us a story about England's Heathrow airport, which will begin fingerprinting passengers on its domestic flights later this month. Airport executives claim that the data will be stored for no longer than 24 hours, and will not be shared with law enforcement. We've previously discussed airport fingerprinting measures in the United States and Japan. Quoting: "All four million domestic passengers who will pass through Terminal 5 annually after it opens on March 27 will have four fingerprints taken, as well as being photographed, when they check in. To ensure the passenger boarding the aircraft is the same person, the fingerprinting process will be repeated just before they board the aircraft and the photograph will be compared with their face. Dr Gus Hosein, of the London School of Economics, an expert on the impact on technology on civil liberties, is one of the scheme's strongest critics. He said: 'There is no other country in the world that requires passengers travelling on internal flights to be fingerprinted. BAA says the fingerprint data will be destroyed, but the records of who has travelled within the country will not be, and it will provide a rich source of data for the police and intelligence agencies.'"

Comments

So what's the point?

[sqrt(2)]

data will be stored for no longer than 24 hours, and will not be shared with law enforcement. Then why are you doing it? It seems like they're just trying to get the citizens used to these kinds of abuses so that when they do start cross-checking and retaining data indefinitely nobody will be able to tell the difference, or care.

And Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia.

Re:So what's the point?

[Admiral Ag]

Since it doesn't seem to matter who you vote for in Britain, it appears that the only way to stop crap like this would be active forms of civil disobedience, which the authorities would then point to to justify what was being protested against in the first place. Joseph Heller would be proud.

Re:So what's the point?

[Cederic]

When I go to the US my details are taken, my fingerprints, photos, credit card numbers that were used to book the flight, which hotel I'm staying at, departure date, hire car details. So don't go.

And stop flying through Heathrow. Refuse to let them take your fingerprints.

It doesn't take many people to start making this stand and the airlines and airports will start complaining to the Government about their reduced revenue.

No civil disobedience required, just a small amount of personal sacrifice. Or are you personally selling out while decrying the rest of us for doing so?

defective by design indeed ...

[siddesu]

"The company said the move had been necessitated by the design of Terminal 5, where international and domestic passengers share the same lounges and public areas after they have checked in. "

Nothing to add here.

It's already started

[g_hill]

They're not waiting for Terminal 5, I was photographed and fingerprinted like a criminal today on my way home from a meeting in Hamburg, via Heathrow Terminal 1. I wasn't happy, why should I as a UK passport holder have my fingerprints taken? It's a police state.

Not too expansive

[dedeman]

Luckily, the country isn't so large that other forms of travel are not feasible.

Not like in the US, where if you're in NY, trying to go to LA (or other destinations west), air travel is one of the few options available.

I'm starting to wonder if there's some running joke, or competition, between lawmakers/politicians in the US and UK, seeing who can come up with the most idiotic, errrr I mean, essential to safety and liberty, stresses on freedom. Or maybe they're angling for the population to revolt.

Either way, laws like this win. If you follow them, you'll be safe, and so we must maintain them, because to maintain freedom and safety, we must be EVER VIGILANT. If they are broken, or cause civil unrest, they are justified in their creation, because look how many people there will be who want to wreak havoc on safety and order.

I never fly, unless absolutely necessary. If they want to make poorly thought regulation part of the new safety routine, I don't involve myself.

Re:WTF.

[megaditto]

But I still don't think that answers GP's question: why is this happening now instead of back when IRA blew up bomb and killed people pretty much weekly?

Is it the teletubbies instilling their gay agenda into the young minds? All the mercury in marmite rotting their brains? The hot East-European chicks infecting the populate with the highly contageous BendOverForAuthoritis?

Why are Britons turning into a bunch of craven pussy chickenshits (for lack of a better word)?

Re:A list of airports like this?

[Wuhao]

So, does a site exist where I can see which airports / countries are going to invade my civil rights?

Having traveled a bit, I feel confident saying that Wikipedia's worldwide list of airports is what you're looking for.

Re:WTF.

[ZDRuX]

But I still don't think that answers GP's question: why is this happening now instead of back when IRA blew up bomb and killed people pretty much weekly?

Because people wouldn't put up with it back then. The government needed a catalyst for propell this Orwellian state onto people. 9/11 did the job quite nicely. If you look closely, all this "total control" has been creeping into our lives quite slowly over the last 50 years, but it really accelerated after 9/11.

If the U.S./UK governments are responsible for 9/11 is beyond the scope of this reply, but you at least have to marvell at the inguinity of it all, and how it all seemleslly fell into place. Problem-Reaction-Solution, the rest is up to you to figure out people. That is all.

Another country

[Slisochies]

Another country to add to my list of places not to visit...

Re:WTF.

[Anne Thwacks]

Ever since some wackos killed less people than die from AIDS in a day the US,

Actually, AIDS doesnt kill a lot of people in the UK. However, armed police have killed more people in the last five years than terrorists have, and our police are not routinely armed.

The government ARE the terrorists.