Fingerprint Scanning To Begin At UK Airports

New government anti-terror plans will see passengers departing British airports being fingerprinted next year, despite the anti-terror plans being controversial.

The new system will be applied to international and domestic passengers but is causing controversy with the Information Commissioner (Britains privacy watchdog). The system that was proposed earlier this year was prevented from being put into action by the Commissioner after they stated that it may be illegal due to data protection laws, however despite this the system seems to have now been implemented.

The process for fingerprint scanners is relatively simple and is a four stage process:

Stage 1: Passengers place their hands on a scanner which scans and records four of the passengers fingerprints.

Stage 2: Passengers then face a camera to have their photograph taken.

Stage 3: The computer systems then submit passengers data and the information is checked against a database. Whilst this takes place passengers can mingle and shop in a huge shopping mall.

Stage 4: Passengers make their way to their flight gate and will have their fingerprints scanned again.

Critics have drawn attention to the shopping malls that passengers will be able to browse after their prints are being processed and have suggested that the new system are being put in place to raise more revenue at UK airports.

Published by: Jon Vickery