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HEATHROW FINGERPRINTING SUSPENDED BUT NOT ABANDONED
EXPATS’ GROUP MAINTAINS ADVICE TO AVOID HEATHROW AIRPORTTravellers should avoid using London’s Heathrow airport until it finally abandons plans for the mass fingerprinting of passengers. That continues to be the advice from NO2ID Expats’ Group. Other hubs, whether in the UK or in other EU countries, should be preferred for the time being. This may entail using airlines other than BA. Rail or sea links may also be an option in some cases.
PASSPORT-ID LINK POSTPONEMENT
NO2ID Expats’ Group, which has active supporters in 39 countries, notes the British government’s decision not to link the issuing of passports to the issuing of ID cards and to enrolment on the National Identity Register before 2011-2012. So far, this is only a postponement of plans to make British passport holders hand over control of their identity to the state. Nonetheless, the government back-pedalling is a signal victory for the NO2ID campaign against a database state in the UK. NO2ID Expats’ Group calls upon the British government to abandon its plans to introduce ID cards and a National Identity Register.
- As spending on the ID/passport/National Identity Register scheme spirals, real passport services to British nationals overseas are being cut back. The latest example is a decision to close down UK passport issuing operations in Brussels and move them to the British consular service in Paris. The 30,000-strong British community in Belgium is mobilising. An online petition against the closure (http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/brusselspassport/) has so far garnered 2,285 signatures.
HEATHROW FINGERPRINTING: WHO’S IN CHARGE?
BUCK-PASSING RAISES SECURITY CONCERNS OVER MASS “BIOMETRIC CAPTURE” AT INTERNATIONAL AIR HUB
EXPATS’ GROUP ADVISES TRAVELLERS TO AVOID HEATHROW
London’s Heathrow airport has introduced what it appropriately calls the “biometric capture” both of domestic passengers and of international travellers who are transiting to a domestic flight. The website of BAA, the Spanish-owned company that runs Britain’s airports, explains: “If you’re departing on a domestic flight, or transferring from an international to a domestic flight, you’ll be asked to provide fingerprints and have your photograph taken...” This is so that all biometric captives can “enjoy the same great facilities and wide choice of shops and restaurants”. In other words, Heathrow is unable to keep transit passengers airside. According to BAA, passengers who “refuse to provide their data, or to validate it prior to boarding” will be “denied entry and will not be able to board their flight”.
The sun never sets on NO2ID
The NO2ID Expats’ Group currently has active members in 39 countries across the globe. It gives British people living abroad the opportunity to join the campaign against the introduction of ID cards and a database state in the UK. Among expats too, support for NO2ID has been growing rapidly as more people become aware of the full implications of the British government’s plans.
EU biometric checks?
The European Commission wants “an entry-exit system to record the dates of entry and exit of each third-country national admitted to the Schengen area using biometric identifiers (facial image and fingerprints).” The measure would apply to those entering the current 25 Schengen member states, as well as associates Norway and Iceland. Switzerland is likely to become a third associate this year. The move will be up for priority discussion by EU justice and home affairs ministers during the first half of 2008, but the Commission rarely puts forward proposals of this kind unless it is reasonably sure that they will be adopted. It remains to be seen how the requirement will affect the five EU members that have stayed outside Schengen – including the UK. The EU’s justice commissioner Franco Frattini reportedly suggested that they could join the biometric scheme “voluntarily”. Frattini favours surveillance levels equalling or surpassing those of the USA, both at borders and on EU-internal air travel.
Billion-dollar biometrics
US arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin has won a huge contract to build a new fingerprint database for the FBI. The deal will cost the American taxpayer a billion dollars over nine years. The database will hold all ten of a person’s fingerprints, and will also store handprints, iris scans, face geometries and other biometrics. It will be located in Clarksburg, West Virginia, where Lockheed already runs the FBI’s current fingerprint database. The new one will stock the dabs of convicted criminals alongside those of any foreigners who visit the States. Apparently, the two categories are regarded as broadly similar.