How would you feel if you were photographed and fingerprinted at the U.K. border control?

One of the most surprising discoveries by U.S. citizens about our current border controls is the extensive implementation of biometrics. Most Americans don’t realize that foreigners coming into the U.S. at airports are having all 10 fingers fingerprinted.

I’m not talking about fingerprinting only dodgy characters from obscure countries. This is being done to our friends and tourists from the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, everyone arriving by air. How would you feel if you had to do the same when visiting other countries?

If Border Control and Protection has their way, everyone entering the U.S. through an airport will be photographed and have their irises scanned. I’ve know this for some time, but it still seems unbelieveable.

Wait there, more! Plans are being made and tests are underway to take fingerprints, photos and iris scans when visitors depart as well.

Testimony from Rand Beers, Under Secretary National Protection and Programs Directorate, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), discussed our expanding biometric capabilities and the introduction of these procedures internationally.

Some countries have already begun operations or are nearing deployment. For example:
• Japan has implemented a two-fingerprint biometric entry system similar to US-VISIT’s initial system;
• The United Kingdom is collecting 10 fingerprints from visa applicants and testing fingerprint collection at ports of entry;
• The European Union is building a 10-fingerprint visa-issuance program based on the very successful Eurodac;
• Australia, which has been a pioneer in facial recognition, is advancing its identitymanagement program;
• The United Arab Emirates has long been using iris scans as part of its immigration and border control processes; and
• Other countries, including Peru, Mexico, and Canada, are actively pursuing biometrics implementation.

As the use of biometrics increases worldwide, consistent international standards for biometrics and data sharing are essential to developing compatible systems, and compatible systems are essential to hindering international criminal enterprises as well as terrorists’ ability to travel.

Get ready. These biometrics are coming our way. Soon we will be fingerprinted, have mug shots taken and be getting our irises scanned when we fly to Europe, Japan, Australia and South America as tourists or businessmen. What we are doing to the rest of the world is being used as model of how to treat us.

Already, countries like Chile have instituted stiff border crossing reciprocity fee of $131 for U.S. citizens that mirror the visa charges that the U.S. State Department charges for Chileans to visit our country.

Get ready for reciprocity biometrics as soon as these countries get their systems into place.

Going through border control when entering the European Union and other countries will soon be a major hassle should similar procedures to our homegrown biometrics get spread across the planet

For those with privacy concerns, this collection of fingerprints and perhaps eyescans and photos together with passport numbers, date of birth, address, etc. all under dubious control of foreign governments will be a nightmare.

It makes me shudder. Worse, according to our own DHS, it is being put into place today.

How do you feel about the prospects of being fingerprinted, having your iris scanned and being photographed each time you cross a border? Take our basic survey. We’d love to know.