In the UK you can only have your Fingerprints and Photo taken IF you are charged with a Criminal Offense and then when/if you are cleared these fingerprints and photo’s are RETURNED to you and NO reacord is supposed to exist. HOW will people stand when leaving the USA re their prints( and will outside agencys and Govt’s like the British) use them for other uses?? without the protection of the law for the people who’s prints/photos the yanks supply them with.
Even though I have nothing to hide I dont like the idea of any person other that a UK Lawyer or Solicitor having these things and I dont think a lot of perfectly ordinary people would.:confused: :confused:
By: Geforce - 4th April 2004 at 12:47
I don’t know anything about the regulation and laws concerning such matters within the EU but I find it hard to believe you can get into the EU from the outside without identification. I guess the simple fact is if you travel to the EU you obey it’s rules and if you travel to the US you obey theirs. Seems fair.
True, and you need an identification anyway. Personally I don’t care about these new measures, but some tourists might. The current US gov’t should still remember that there’s also other things to worry about than fighting terrorism. I hope Kerry will make the US a bit more ‘friendly’ towards foreigners again.
By: Sauron - 3rd April 2004 at 22:19
Well I guess we could write a book on the subject but you have to give those better paid and trained people proper tools to work with and I fail to see the objection to providing less risky travel, passport and personal documents nor the building up of an entrant database. Such measures seem rather benign. For frequent visitors it might even speed up the process.
As far as better communication between security and law enforcement agencies goes, lets hope that improves, but there would be little to communicate without extensive information gathering about individuals, their movements and activities and facilities to handle such information and travel documents are one such way collect it.
I don’t know anything about the regulation and laws concerning such matters within the EU but I find it hard to believe you can get into the EU from the outside without identification. I guess the simple fact is if you travel to the EU you obey it’s rules and if you travel to the US you obey theirs. Seems fair.
Sauron
By: google - 3rd April 2004 at 22:04
I agree, paying the screeners much more will result in a more professional and thorough force. The money saved from not implementing this fingerprinting could go towards increasing their pay.
All we have are the same old screeners making $5.25 an hour whose badges switched from some private firm to the TSA. If you pay him $5 bucks an hour, that’s the kind of lousy service you’re gonna get.
By: tenthije - 3rd April 2004 at 20:58
At the moment a lot of the security agents in the US are low trained, low payed employees. Train them better and make it more attractive for them to stay on their job so it will be possible to keep the experienced employees. That would probably help better than getting fingerprints and new passports.
Communication between the various security agencies could also be improved. The 9-11 hearings made clear that this is a mayor problem at least then and probably, but hopefully to a much lesser extent, now as well.
By: Sauron - 3rd April 2004 at 20:45
If there are better ways to prevent terrorists from entering a country than effective ID methods, what are they?
Sauron
By: tenthije - 3rd April 2004 at 19:09
What does the US expect to achieve with fingerprinting and photographing people.
Maybe that in Miami Vice it is possible to recognise a fingerprint from a known (!) criminal in minutes, in the real world it takes longer. Possitively identifying a fingerprint can take hours if not days!
Unless everyone is to stay airside until the fingerprint has been identified, this is not going to stop any known (!) terrorists. And I don’t think they are going to let everyone wait till the fingerprint checks out ok.
Unknown terrorists will of course still get through. Regardless of how good biometric passports are.
The notion some have that once biometric passports are introduced this fingerprinting and photographing is repealed is probably incorrect. Until the introduction of biometric passports, the fingerprinting is useless. With the new passport you can finally confirm the identity of the holder with the passport using fingerprinting. The new passport will only make it more appealing to fingerprint people!
That is, of course, untill someone finds a way to make false biometric passports. That has happened with all previous documents of value, and will no doubt happen with biometric passports as well. It’s just a matter of time.
I think these methods are not worth the small improvement (if any) in safety. There are better ways to prevent terrorists from entering a country.
By: Hand87_5 - 3rd April 2004 at 18:48
You know that’s a major issue. All those information that the airlines give to the American authorities about the European travelling there are against the EU laws.
The USA had plan to archive those information 50 years !!!! A severe debate with the EU commission ended on an agreement of 3.5 years.
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April 3, 2004 at 6:23 pm