This is an elephant in the living room as far as Big Brother Conspiracy goes!
Take no comfort from Mr Wheeler’s reassurances about the data not being saved and how the officer will delete your fingerprints in front of you if you like. This is not the real problem; the most dangerous effect this procedure will have is psychological and sociological. In the same way that a “small-scale harmless” school library database (Background: http://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2007/11/this-is-drawing-done-by-my-12-year-old.html) is not so much the problem as the psychological effects the practice of continuous fingerprint checks will have on the population. We are being psychologically acclimatized to considering the Database State normal and everyday. This is especially serious with children, but the adult population are not immune. It’s slowly creeping up on us! The attitude that this "Papieren Bitte!" Identity Check Culture (Background: http://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2007/09/papiere-bitte-snaps-fingers.html) is normal and everyday.
If I’m stopped by the police and asked to give my fingerprint on this portable machine I will politely but firmly refuse and explain the officer exactly the same reasons as I do in this article.
Take no comfort from Mr Wheeler’s reassurances about the data not being saved and how the officer will delete your fingerprints in front of you if you like. This is not the real problem; the most dangerous effect this procedure will have is psychological and sociological. In the same way that a “small-scale harmless” school library database (Background: http://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2007/11/this-is-drawing-done-by-my-12-year-old.html) is not so much the problem as the psychological effects the practice of continuous fingerprint checks will have on the population. We are being psychologically acclimatized to considering the Database State normal and everyday. This is especially serious with children, but the adult population are not immune. It’s slowly creeping up on us! The attitude that this "Papieren Bitte!" Identity Check Culture (Background: http://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2007/09/papiere-bitte-snaps-fingers.html) is normal and everyday.
If I’m stopped by the police and asked to give my fingerprint on this portable machine I will politely but firmly refuse and explain the officer exactly the same reasons as I do in this article.
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