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?

[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?

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.

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)?