Privacy International condemns the US-VISIT Programme

28/09/2004

PRIVACY WATCHDOG RAISES ALARM AS THE UNITED STATES PREPARES FOR MASS FINGERPRINTING

From Thursday September 30 2004, all visitors to the United States will be electronically face-scanned and fingerprinted at the US border. This “biometric” information, together with a mass of associated personal data, will be shared throughout the US government. Personal files will also be shared internationally. These measures are part of an unprecedented traveller surveillance and profiling system that within fifteen years may encompass data on a billion people.

In its report, Privacy International warns that the increased surveillance at US borders created by the US-VISIT programme poses significant challenges to civil liberties.

US-VISIT will collect, assess, process and retain biographic, travel, and biometric information on visitors to the United States. The purpose of this collection is to identify people who are believed to potentially pose a threat to the security of the US, are known or believed to have violated the terms of their admission to the U.S., or who are wanted in connection with a criminal act in the U.S. or elsewhere.

This personal information will be retained for 75 to 100 years. Data on travellers from ally countries will be kept alongside data collected from nationals of countries that threaten to wage war, or are or were at war with the United States.

The Report is available online at
www.privacyinternational.org/issues/terrorism/rpt/dangers_of_visit.pdf.

A comprehensive flow-chart showing the workings of US-VISIT is also available at
http://www.privacyinternational.org/issues/terrorism/rpt/usvisit-diagram.pdf

Both documents can be reproduced or published freely in whole or part.

Related:
Border and Travel Surveillance Home Page