The opening line of the article made my hair curl. “Privacy impact has been “carefully evaluated”.” What’s that I hear? Yes, that is the sound of my sarcasm building.
From SC Magazine AU:
Under the new deal the UK will be able to swap fingerprint information of foreign criminals and asylum seekers with the two countries.
The US is also to join the agreement shortly and New Zealand is considering legislation to join in the near future.
The deal will mean that the UK’s watchlists – which fingerprints are checked against whenever someone is arrested or applies for a UK visa – are added to with information from other countries, making it easier to detect people with criminal histories in those places, as well as speed up removals, and establish previously unknown identities.
So, no chance for an abuse of the data? With the US soon to join the fray I am concerned with the integrity of the data and how it will be used. What could possibly go wrong with a legal program?
(Image used under CC from concentratedpassion Flickr feed)