Article: All Travelers to Europe May Face Fingerprinting
Submitted by RP08isHOPE on Fri, 02/15/2008 - 20:58Travelers to Europe May Face Fingerprinting
By Ellen Nakashima and John Ward Anderson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, February 12, 2008; Page A01
The European Commission will propose tomorrow that all foreign travelers entering and leaving Europe, including U.S. citizens, should be fingerprinted. If approved by the European Parliament, the measure would mean that precisely identifying information on tens of millions of citizens will be added in coming years to databases that could be shared by friendly governments around the world.
The United States already requires that foreigners be fingerprinted and photographed before they enter the country. So does Japan. Now top European security officials want to follow suit, with travelers being fingerprinted and some also having their facial images stored in a Europe-wide database, according to a copy of the proposal obtained by The Washington Post.
The plan is part of a vast and growing trend on both sides of the Atlantic to collect and share data electronically to identify and track people in the name of national security and immigration control. U.S. government computers now have access to data on financial transactions; air travel details such as name, itinerary and credit card numbers; and the names of those sending and receiving express-mail packages -- even a description of the contents.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02...
I think mostly it's a
I think mostly it's a retaliation for US Homeland Security's draconian measures. Most people I know HATE having to fly through the US. They used to have "transit lounges" where you could hang if you were waiting for a connection. Now EVERYBODY has to go through customs and immigration and then run to try and catch their connecting flight out. (You fly in to Newark or wherever from Europe and get fingerprinted asked tons of questions, go through customs, get 'strip-searched' for security, photographed and generally treated like cattle just to catch your flight to Mexico or Rio or wherever---some nationalities have to pay $100 for the privilege too) I think a lot of Americans get treated way more civilly by officials abroad than Homeland Insecurity treats our foreign guests so it won't have as much impact as it could.
I
Agree
I smell
a one world government ...