[IP] ICO queries Heathrow T5's huge fingerprint scam scan

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

________________________________________
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
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