FBI takes biometrics database proposal to U.K
US is working on a project to store data of the world’s ‘worst of worst’ individuals
LONDON: Close on the heels of the British government’s proposals to fingerprint anyone who applies for UK visa, the FBI now wants instant access to British identity data.
The US-initiated programme, “Server in the Sky” hopes to take co-operation and data sharing by the police on both sides of the Atlantic way beyond the current faxing of fingerprints.
Instead biometric measurements, irises or palm prints and other personal information are likely to be exchanged across the network which consists of the US, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. These allies in the ‘war on terror’ have formed a International Information Consortium to plan their strategy.
“Server in the Sky is an FBI initiative designed to foster the advanced search and exchange of biometric information on a global scale,” the FBI told The Guardian newspaper.
“While it is currently in the concept and design stages, once complete it will provide a technical forum for member nations to submit biometric search requests to other nations. It will maintain a core holding of the world’s ‘worst of the worst’ individuals,” said the spokesman.
The FBI proposes three categories of suspects. Those who are “internationally recognised terrorists and felon”, those who are “major felons and suspected terrorists”, and those who are the subject of terrorist investigations or criminals with international links.
While both the British Home Office and Metropolitan police have confirmed that they are aware of the programme, it is making civil rights groups anxious. They are worried about how much access to UK databases is being given to foreign law enforcement agencies which do not follow the same rules as the British.
There is also concern over security particularly after embarrassing data losses within the UK. In one known case an arrest for a terror offense by US investigators turned out to be a misidentified fingerprint match.
Britain’s National Policing Improvement Agency has been the lead body for the FBI project as it is responsible for IDENT1, the UK database holding 7million sets of fingerprints and other biometric details used by police forces to search for matches from scenes of crime.
Many of these prints are either from a person with no criminal record, or have yet to be matched to a named individual. FBI hopes to see the project running by this year.
Source:Diligent Media
January 17, 2008
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