Travelers to Europe May Face Fingerprinting
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The European Commission will propose tomorrow that all foreign travelers entering and leaving Europe, including U.S. citizens, should be fingerprinted. If approved by the European Parliament, the measure would mean that precisely identifying information on tens of millions of citizens will be added...
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U.S. air carriers are fighting a federal proposal that would require their workers to digitally scan foreigners' fingerprints at check-in areas before departure on international flights.
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The European Union's top justice official on Friday proposed replicating U.S. border security measures in Europe, with plans to fingerprint and electronically record the entry and exit of all visitors.
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Bridges to Mexico in this traffic-choked city began testing a new immigration security program Monday that requires some U.S. visitors to be fingerprinted and photographed as they cross the border.
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(InfoWorld) - Critics ofÂ last week's agreementÂ allowing European passengers' personal data to be shared with U.S. authorities have just under a month to reshape the accord before it comes into force, said Stavros Lambrinidis, vice president of the European Parliament's civil liberties committee Monday. "There is aÂ battleÂ to make this agreement respectful of European citizens' civil liberties, and it's not over," he said in a telephone interview. The European Parliament has no direct say in the shaping of an agreement that will give U.S. customs, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other agencies including the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency free access to airlines' passenger databases to help them prevent potential terrorist attacks. However, some national parliaments will get the chance. "There are about six or seven countries that have to debate this agreement. There is still a chance to change it," Lambrinidis said. The U.S. government demanded access to information about everyone flying to the U.S. from the E.U. in the wake of the terrorist attacks in September 2001. However, by complying with the demand, airlines would have been breaching strict European data protection laws, so the U.S. and E.U. drafted an exemption clause from the laws, which they claim was respectful of European citizens' data. The European Court of JusticeÂ annulled that agreementÂ last year and gave the two sides until the end of this month to come up with an alternative. Failure to do so would leave European airlinesÂ exposed to massive finesÂ and the possible loss of landing slots in the U.S if they don't continue to hand over the data, or legal action on data protection grounds in the E.U. if they do. "It's clear that there has to be an agreement but not one like this," Lambrinidis said. The agreement that was reached during a phone call between German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, E.U. justice and home affairs commissioner Franco Frattini and U.S. Secretary for Homeland Security Michael Chertoff last Wednesday reduces the fields of data to be shared from 34 at present to 19. These fields include information such as name, credit-card details and travel itinerary. They won't include dietary requirements, which could be used to identify someone's religion. However, it extends the length of time the U.S. authorities can hold the data from three years to 15 years, and it allows U.S. agencies to dip into the databases at their will. In an interview last week, Europe's data protection supervisor, Peter Hustinx, said his main concern was that the E.U. would grant American agencies the right to pull up information about Europeans whenever they want. He called for a push mechanism, meaning that database managers for the airlines would have to pass over the data, instead. Like the temporary accord it replaces, the new agreement promises an eventual switch to a push mechanism. Under the new agreement, U.S. agencies can pull up the data they want until early next year, when airlines will start pushing it instead. However, the DHS maintains the right to pull the information if airlines don't offer up the data promptly. The main concern, however, is that the agreement omits any binding undertakings for U.S. authorities to safeguard European citizens' data. The details of this arrangement aren't in the agreement itself but in an exchange of letters that haven't been made public, Lambrinidis said. Reacting to the agreement last week, Hustinx said he fears the measure could violate European citizens' rights to privacy. In addition to allowing U.S. authorities to keep the data for 15 years, there would be "no limitation to what U.S. authorities are allowed to do with the data," Hustinx wrote in a letter to Schaeuble on Wednesday after the German minister clinched the deal.
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The latest agreement allows many more U.S. government agencies to access data about passengers flying to the U.S. from Europe, including details such as a passenger's name, address and credit card information.
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U.S. may decrease the amount of time European passenger data is saved.
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European officials yesterday joined the chorus of concern over a U.S. screening program that creates risk profiles for every air traveler entering or leaving the United States, and sought assurances that the system does not violate European privacy rights.
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All travelers, U.S. citizens and others, need to be aware of certain issues when entering the U.S. with electronic equipment.
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The United States and the European Union reached an antiterrorism deal yesterday after months of wrangling over privacy rights, giving American law enforcement agencies continued access to passenger data on US-bound flights. US authorities say the data enable them to notify the airline or European customs officials before takeoff if any of the passengers are on an American wanted ...
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All visitors from Europe and  elsewhere were fingerprinted and photographed upon arrival at  U.S. airports on Thursday as part of a new, heightened effort  by authorities to secure American borders.
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LONDON - Europe is stepping up efforts to explore the use of eye scans and other biometric technology to screen airline passengers who volunteer for background security checks. The goal is to see whether airport security can be enhanced and congestion eased by encouraging frequent fliers to undergo pre-screening.
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The EU announces proposals for biometric fingerprinting of visitors from outside the European Union arriving at its borders.
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Iris, fingers, head, shoulders, knees and toes The UK, Europe and the US are planning to belt and brace their border databases by using multiple forms of biometrics to identify people.â¦
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InfoWorld - Europeans who visit the U.S. will be required to fill out an online questionnaire two days before they enter the country under a proposal being studied by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
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The European Union on Tuesday approved a European visa data system which will store biometric information like fingerprints and photos on 70 million visa-holders who pass through the EU's borderless travel zone each year.
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FLORENCE Interior ministers from the five largest West European countries have agreed to adopt digital fingerprinting on passports, officials here said, but a second day of talks on Monday found them still deadlocked on a plan to create migrant holding