Rosio Pavoris a blog

Britons to be scanned for FBI database

“The Observer has established that under new plans to combat terrorism, the US government will demand that visitors have all 10 fingers scanned when they enter the country. The information will be shared with intelligence agencies, including the FBI, with no restrictions on their international use.”

The article says Britons because it’s British, but it really applies to all foreign visitors.
As you may or may not know, the US still requires the tourist visa thing from most foreign visitors, but a number of countries (Belgium among them) can go through the DHS’s US-VISIT program instead. This involves having your picture taken and being fingerprinted. Now, there being no evidence whatsoever that this program has done anything but harass legitimate visitors, they’re extending it to eventually integrate it with the FBI’s database as well.

Even if you don’t object to being treated like a criminal for no reason, keep in mind that fingerprint identification has a pretty high error rate, and these prints will mostly be taken by inexperienced staff using equipment that takes thousands every day. Combine this with the fact that habeas corpus is still suspended in the US, and suddenly you have a very real chance of being detained indefinitely without any trial rights whatsoever when all you wanted to do was visit some friends for a week.

Of course, the American populace won’t care. After all, non-citizens aren’t really people, and all of them are probably in league with the terrorists anyway.