The Fourth Amendment Gets the Finger

Alarming information from AppleCore Hotels Blog:

International visitors will experience soon a transition from a two-fingerprint scan to a ten-fingerprint collection standard. The Department of Homeland Security will be rolling out this system at all US ports of entry by the end of 2008, bur JFK Airport will begin collecting 10 fingerprint scans by the end of January 2008. This new procedure is part of the U.S. government’s multi-layered security system that ensures travel is convenient and secure. The program uses biometrics—digital photographs and fingerprints—to establish and verify the identity of visitors and protect against identity theft and document fraud.

So many people are taking these infringements on our liberty far too casually.

Here’s another story along the same lines:

There’s a company called Verified Identity Pass that operates a service called “Clear,” which, for a hundred dollars per year, gives travelers a “biometrically encoded identification card.” This card lets you use the adult equivalent of a Disneyland Fast-Pass lane.

The New York Times noted a few days ago that both Washington Dulles and Reagan National will have the system up and running in “a few weeks.”

Ah! An EZ Pass for travelers! How convenient! How sickening! Next thing you know, they’ll want tattoos across our foreheads, stamped with our social numbers, blood type, and mother’s maiden name.

“Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.” Benjamin Franklin.