Homeland Security to Start Collecting Fingerprints at Airports

Under the guise of combating illegal immigration, the government is planning to implement yet another privacy-infringing policy and expand the surveillance state by scanning the fingerprints of non-US citizens as they exit the country. The pilot program begins in Atlanta soon.

Michael Chertoff wants your fingerprints

Michael Chertoff, head of DHS, wants to build a "server in the sky" of all fingerprints from all citizens of a variety of countries. When questioned about the potential for privacy invasions, he answered, "A fingerprint is hardly personal data because you leave it on glasses and silverware and articles all over the world, they’re like footprints. They’re not particularly private." Nevermind that fingerprints can be used as unique identifiers for a person, nor that government-managed databases have huge potential for misuse, theft, misidentification, leaks, etc. Great, this idiot is in charge of keeping us "safe?"

Via thinkprogress, Schneier