Defence of the Realm?
After say, two weeks from today, if you fly anywhere in the British Isles through British Airways shiny new Terminal 5, built and opened by Her Majesty, you will be treated like a common criminal. Your basic rights, carefully preserved and protected against all manner of onslaught, from the Spanish Armada who wanted to make us all Catholic, through the French, who just wanted to conquer us, and on past the Germans, who 
twice tried, and the second time nearly succeeded, to starve us into submission, are about to be revoked and trashed. Not by another foreign army, but by a foreign-owned corporation and an allegedly British airline, with the silent connivance of the Labour Government, the security services and every little puffed-up jobsworth who thinks he can boss us around!
If you enter Terminal Five with a ticket, you will be shepherded into a long line, and told that, before you even go through the laughingly-named ‘Security’ checks, that you must allow your fingerprints to be taken for ‘Biomechnically-enhanced security Checks’. The last time I checked, the only people allowed to take ‘AND STORE’ our fingerprints are the police, so what is going on?
The reason, so gullibly and slimily trotted out by both B.A and B.A.A. is that after ‘Security’ all passengers, both domestic and international, mix in the same lounges and in the same multitude of shops. So a check with fingerprints is essential to separate the sheep from, well, the other sheep. But most, if not all people who have studied T-5 have already divined that it was built that way, so that everyone mixes together, so the fingerprinting ploy is a subterfuge on a grand scale. THEY PROMISE TO DESTROY THE INFORMATION AFTER TWENTY FOUR HOURS! Oh Yeah, and we were promised a Referendum on the Constitution!
What is just over the horizon, in a discreet written answer to an equally discreet Parliamentary question, is the authority for all the millions of fingerprints to be retained, and access given to the police, the local councils, and any other bunch of bastards who has been given a statutory right to snoop into our private lives!
So there you have it! Without hassle or noise, our basic liberty, our right to anonymity and privacy is being carted off through the back door under the illusory defence of Passenger Identification. Brave New world indeed!
Mike Cunningham
18 Comments
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Reader Comments (18)
Mike,
I'm with you on this, and so is our ACLU:
Resist!given the fact that airline security is an illusion foisted onto a gullable nieve public I would definitly say that this is an outrage with alterior motives
given the fact that airline security is an illusion foisted onto a gullable nieve public I would definitly say that this is an outrage with alterior motives
Saturday, March 22, 2008 at 08:52PM | Grizzly Mama / Troll
ok guys try this:
Given the fact that airline security is an illusion foisted on to a guillible naive public I would definitely say that this is an outrage with ulterior motives.
Or is trolls spelling correct as to how they spell in the U.S.?
I'm not poking fun, genuinely I'm asking. I'd heard they spell as they speak over there.
Cait,
In the history of American education, there have been various failed attempts to teach spelling. It appears to be cyclical, so that, if you were born in the right cycle, you can spell. On the other hand, if you were born (as I suspect the Troll was) too late and went to school during the so-called "See-and-Say" era, you will never learn to spell. Never.
Thanks for clearing that up Alan.
Have a nice Easter by the way.
The answer is not to fly anymore but go by bike.
You're welcome, Cait; and a very happy Easter to you and yours.
I'm genuinely puzzled by Mike's post, and by some of the comments.
To which I'll reply: OK, Mike, Troll, Alan: I'll appoint each of you as air travel security czars in your respective countries. What exactly would you have the authorities do?
My beef is that they don't go far enough with security- I'd go for Israeli-type security, most certainly including profiling as appropriate.
But, for a Brit to post this with a straight face--someone who is clearly aware of 9/11, Lockerbie, Madrid, the London Underground bombings --is beyond puzzling.
I can think of a couple of good reasons for wanting fingerprints. But first--what would you have your government do? No 1984 slogans--I want answers!!
I'm inclined to agree with The Phantom. What is the problem? Fingerprints and DNA evidence could only ever be used to clear me as I won't be committing any serious crimes. I was fingerprinted going into the US and never gave it a second thought.
Mind you I did notice in Heathrow that m people are allowed wander around wearing veils. I would like their faces to be visible to the security cameras.
as someone who has worked in this industry for years I would recomend a two tier approach
1) the Israeli model for dealing with pasengers
and
2) turn every airport into a military base with all workers subject to the same rules that civilians have to pass through to enter the base.
Cait
Usually I would deal with your spelling comment with a snide remark, but since you seem to have asked it honestly I will give you an honest response.
I don't spell well period I never have. From the seventh grade on I managed to not carry a class in english. I carried an extra math instead. I managed to con this arrangement out of my schools because I carried straight A's in every class except english which I barely passed.
I refuse to use a spell check when posting primarily because liberals always bring it up. Instead of arguing the content of what is said in a post they will try to belittle it due to the spelling. Which automaticly looses them the argument. It shows that they can't argue the substance.
Troll
I have no problem with either of the approaches you suggest.
But I also have no problem with the taking of fingerprints.
Especially in a place like London, where there are immense numbers of travelers passing through every day. And a lot of them from Arab countries, a number of whom have been known to give passports as a courtesy to those from "brother" countries who don't even live there.
And where Arab / Middle East passengers will have names, in Arabic/Urdu that can easily be confused by any Westerner.
I want an extra layer of security for those from that part of the world, for reasons that don't need to be explained.
Don't like fingerprints? OK, take a footprint. Or an eye scan.
I'm not messing around with this.
If it means that my data and yours are captured too, well, that is a very acceptable price to pay. I don't want another Lockerbie or 9/11.
I can see your point I would the other two to it thats all
Henry,
"Fingerprints and DNA evidence could only ever be used to clear me as I won't be committing any serious crimes. "
You're assuming that the system works perfectly which is a bad assumption. All of these systems have false positive and false negative rates, especially when you add in the human factor.
Phantom,
"And where Arab / Middle East passengers will have names, in Arabic/Urdu that can easily be confused by any Westerner."
The problem is not and has never been finding out the names of the terrorists, it has been knowing which are terrorists in the first place. The 9/11 attackers had US issued ID. Please tell me what would have happened differently if you had their fingerprints in addition to the names and photographs that you did have.
Although I would agree that these measures are not necessarily 1984, they are just theatre.
Aside from the propensity of bad spelling in America, I only see the old knee-jerk reactions such as 'I have nothing to hide, so I have nothing to worry about'.
As one commenter in a newspaper stated, "You are sleepwalking into a police state and you are doing nothing about it!"
Don't you understand that once fingerprints are routinely taken for all members of the British flying public, it is but a very short step to demand that all submit their fingerprints because of 'Security' arrangements. Once the authorities have access to all our personal details, would YOU trust a liar like Gordon Brown not to attempt the same as STASI boss Erich Meilke said when he demanded "Comrades, we must know everything”,
Mind you, I did think Brenda was overdoing it lately. Have you seen those biceps? Next she'll be showing us some builder's bum :0)
She did a fine job, especially as she was working nights as a back-up to her day job!
She wasn't told about the fingerprints scam either!
Troll
I agree with you about the silly bringing up of the spelling remarks - apart from your stupid and false dig at liberals - pedants of all political persuasions are prone to bring up petty spelling or grammatical errors, especially against their political opponents.
As to the topic inquestion - get used to it. Authority will always use the technology available. No point in trying to turn back the clock.
Frank
The 9/11 criminals were in this country legally. Since then, security has tightened and its eminently possible that the next terrorists will not be legal residents/tourists.
If someone passes through using a fake passport, or slips in using another's passport, the fingerprint may be the only bit of data, other than the photo, that can be trusted.
There are vast numbers of people going through Heathrow every day. If --lets just say-- your government is given information that Terrorist X just entered the country, using a false passport...you just may want to have those fingerprints. Your man can shave off his beard, but he is unlikely to be able to change his fingerprints.
I think the real sheep in this situation are those who shiver together in terror when governments take necessary steps in an age of stateless terror.
I'd prefer that the Brits (and Americans) didn't have to do things like this. But I see what has happened in recent history, and I don't know how they can be criticized for things like this.
I asked Mike what he would have the government do.He responded by busting Troll's cojones about spelling.
I'm entirely in favor of proper spelling, but I value straight answers more than I do good spelling. Troll gave straight and concise answers to the questions posed to him. I'm still waiting for Mike's answer.
I ask it once more, Mike--your country is uniquely vulnerable and the massive Heathrow Airport is a gateway to all the good and all the bad that exists in the world. What would you have your government do?