|
U.S. starts fingerprint program
Say cheese! (no wait, donât! screws up the face recognition software) EFLUp to 28 million visitors to the United States now have to stop for photographs and fingerprinting under a new government program launched Monday and intended to make it harder for terrorists to enter the country. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said the new US-VISIT program applies to any visitors who must have a visa to enter the United States. Citizens from more than two dozen countries, mostly in Europe, arenât required to carry a visa if their visit is less than 90 days. Visitors from those countries are exempt. Visitors from exempt countries who are working in the United States, however, require a work visa, and therefore must leave their fingerprints and photographs with U.S. authorities. "We want visitors from abroad to continue to come to the United States, but we also want to secure our borders," Ridge said. Ridge acknowledged that US-VISIT — United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology — will only cover a small fraction of the estimated 500 million annual visitors to the United States, but he said the program was but the "first significant step in a series of steps" the government plans to take in the coming months and years. And my prediction is that this will be one of the most successful programs in the WoT, and in general. Outside of Europe, the exempt countries include Japan, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and Brunei. Citizens of Canada generally do not need a visa to enter the United States. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says the goal of the US-VISIT program is to track the millions of people who come to the United States every year on business, student and tourist visas — and to use the information as a tool against terrorists. Critics say the broad-reaching program will cause unnecessary travel delays and may never prove to be effective. A 5 minute delay at the most. Big deal. And âunnecessaryâ is such a relative term. "Thereâs so much information in such volumes that thereâs a limit to what any analyst can absorb," said Larry Johnson, an aviation security consultant. Uh, thatâs what computers are for. And databases. And hard drives are cheap nowadays. Faiz Rehman, president of the National Council of Pakistani-Americans, points to the disruption in travel. "Without proper training, there will be long lines, there will be missed flights, there will be people who would be wrongly stopped," Rehman said. "The sky is falling!" (Consider also the punks who will decide to stay home because theyâre afraid of being fingerprinted. That should shorten those long lines, eh Mr. Rehman?) Outside the United States, there has been a backlash as well. In reaction to the U.S. policy, Brazil last week began fingerprinting and photographing American visitors arriving at Sao Pauloâs airport. Brazilâs Foreign Ministry has also requested that Brazilians be removed from the U.S. list. Ridge said that "if the Brazilian government thinks itâs in their interests (to fingerprint and photograph Americans), so be it." Ha! The comeback of the year. "Itâs not two standards, one for the United States and one for the rest of the world," he said. The U.S. program, which has a budget of $380 million, will require an estimated 24 million visitors to submit two finger scans and have a photograph taken upon entering any of 115 airports or 14 seaports. Homeland Security spokesman Bill Strassberger said once screeners become proficient, the extra security will take only 10 to 15 seconds per person, The Associated Press reported. Oh those long lines!!! Inkless fingerprints will be taken and checked instantly against a digital database for criminal backgrounds and any terrorist lists. The process will be repeated when visitors leave the United States as an extra security measure and to ensure they complied with visa limitations. The horror!!! Bwahahahaha! Good work. Youâll see the benefits of this program pile up in no time. Posted by: RW2004 2004-01-06 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=23869 |