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ICO queries Heathrow T5's huge fingerprint scam scan
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:48:58 -0700
________________________________________ From: Brian Randell [Brian.Randell () ncl ac uk] Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 7:09 PM To: David Farber Subject: ICO queries Heathrow T5's huge fingerprint scam scan Hi Dave: From The Register for IP if you wish.
Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/24/ico_queries_t5_fingerprinting/ ICO queries Heathrow T5's huge fingerprint scam scan By John Lettice Published Monday 24th March 2008 14:31 GMT The government, the British Airports Authority and the Information Commissioner's Office are arguing over fingerprinting at Heathrow's new Terminal 5, which is due to open on Thursday. T5 is to use a 'count them all in, count them all out' biometric system to log entry and exit to the departure lounge, but the ICO thinks the move may breach the Data Protection Act, and has demanded an explanation from BAA. Fingerprints are to be taken because T5 will use a single departure lounge for international and domestic passengers, and there is therefore a need to tie the passengers to their tickets. Otherwise, it is claimed, passengers could swap tickets in the lounge, and incoming terror suspects could slip into the UK via a regional airport without going through immigration. Instead of, one assumes, continuing their transit unhindered to Schiphol or whatever. It is not immediately obvious why someone who's going to be ID'd as a dangerous terrorist by the Borders & Immigration Agency at the immigration desk is not going to be similarly ID'd on the passenger manifest, but this is by no means the only thing that isn't immediately obvious. The ICO wants the BAA to explain why fingerprinting is needed at all, pointing out that photographs are less intrusive, and are used at other BAA airports which have a single lounge for all passengers. BAA blames the government, and says in a statement: "When BAA announced plans for common departure lounges, the BIA was keen on a reliable biometric element to border control. Fingerprinting was selected as the most robust method by BAA, the BIA and other government departments."
<snip> Cheers Brian -- School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK EMAIL = Brian.Randell () ncl ac uk PHONE = +44 191 222 7923 FAX = +44 191 222 8232 URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/brian.randell ------------------------------------------- Archives: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
Current thread:
- ICO queries Heathrow T5's huge fingerprint scam scan David Farber (Mar 24)
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- Re: ICO queries Heathrow T5's huge fingerprint scam scan David Farber (Mar 25)