Biometric database to track every non-EU citizen
Why bother with all this red tape, cost, and bureaucracy - just give everyone in the European Union an iPhone5s! [Apple’s New Phone Uses Finger Scanning Biometrics]Reported by EUObserver, an idea on how to make security ’better’ by implementing a giant biometric database....
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’Virtual borders’ scheme to track every non-EU citizen
By Nikolaj Nielsen | EUObserver
The European Commission wants to fingerprint anyone who enters the EU under its "smart borders" proposal, but critics say it is too costly, disproportionate, and risks violating numerous privacy rights.
The commission says the system is necessary to update border control checks, reduce waiting times, and help border guards better implement EU border rules by pooling the personal details of any non-EU citizen over the age of 12 into a database.All 10 finger prints would be scanned to ensure that anyone who tosses their ID can still be identified if necessary.
The package includes the Entry/Exit system and the Registered Travellers Programme (RTP). RTP is reserved for a more privileged frequent visitor to the EU, such as business people or researchers.
People in the RTP would pay a €20 registration fee, get their fingers print scanned, and then, in theory, quickly cross the EU border with a special token valid for one year.
EES, the more controversial of the two systems, is for everyone else.
It automatically presumes someone has stayed beyond their visa limits but without knowing the cause. A person in a coma or undergoing medical treatment, for instance, is not spared.
The system doesn’t know where the overstayer is located but a Lithuanian state border guard director told this website there are ways to track down the offender. He said police in Lithuania have "special arrangements" with hotels to locate them.
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Meanwhile, a core group of member states are already pushing to get law enforcement access to the system, set for launch either in 2015 or 2016, depending on the legislative resistance met from sceptical MEPs and civil rights groups.
Police are interested because the EES is projected to collect the data of some 269 million people, every year, after the first five years of operation.
Read the full article at: euobserver.com
READ: The FBI and the Myth of the Fingerprint
