What next to get our fingerprints?

Here at Big Brother Watch we are constantly amazed by the number of schemes cooked-up to get people to hand over their fingerprints.

The first, and most heinous, is of course the new biometric passport. But we've also noticed a steady creep in the number of organisations and industries suggesting the cataloguing of unique fingerprints for far more banal reasons.

Schools want to take them from their students. Off-licences are getting machines to use as proof of age. And now, second-hand shops in Norwich!

As the Daily Mail reports:

Customers are being asked to leave a thumbprint when trading in second-hand goods for cash in order to stop criminals making money out of stolen items.

A number of second-hand stores in Norwich have agreed to take part in the scheme, launched by local police.

A police spokeswoman said the prints would help detectives trace sellers if goods turned out to be stolen.

She said prints would be kept in shops, not on any central database - and police investigating other crimes would be able to examine them.

It is that final line which is the kicker. Of course the police would like to have everyone's fingerprints on file; but it's our data, not the state's. There are plenty of people who would rather not have their details checked every time a crime is committed, and that's without risking a false-positive or case of mistaken identity.

Unless there has been a recent crime-wave in Norfolk targeting second-hand goods, this measure is over-the-top, intrusive and pointless.

By Dylan Sharpe

Comments

[Toby Stevens]

Perhaps Norfolk Police would care to share the Privacy Impact Assessment that they've no doubt completed in accordance with the requirements of the Manual of Police Information?