Constitutional Law

Giving the Fingerprint

The Bush administration cheered on a European Commission proposal to fingerprint all foreign travelers entering and leaving Europe, including U.S. citizens. The European database would also track facial images and be designed to allow easy sharing of data with the United States.

The Washington Post reports that these changes are part of a "vast and growing trend" to collect and share data on travel, shipping, and financial transactions. For example, the U.S. government is copying data from electronic devices, such as laptops and cell phones, which cross the boarder, even when the government does not suspect wrongdoing.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on February 17, 2008 (boomark / email).