Scary Political Prediction of 2004 Now Coming True

[Ankesh]

Hi Michael,

Its amazing how astute your observations were back then.

Anyways, my post is not about politics, more about privacy...

Originally Posted by MichaelRoss

With that, and the Department of Homeland Security, I am now forced to have a biometric passport (and I live in Australia!). Upon entering the U.S. I get my photo taken - and maybe even my fingerprint scanned - and pretty well treated like a felon. Nice way to treat someone coming to your country to spend money - NOT!

All countries check your passport for identity purposes. Now they even take your fingerprints - for identity purposes. Why is that bad?

I don't know how personal rights or privacy rights are violated by giving your fingerprints. Has anyone ever refused to show their passports to the authorities because it violates their privacy?

Sooner or later, we are going to move towards using better technology. A century back, all they had was paper - and so all they used was paper identity (passports, ration cards). But now we have better technology for identity - finger print recording, biometrics etc - and we will start using it - sooner or later.

You know what would be cool? Having no paper identity on you. No drivers licenses or passports. Just use your fingerprints instead. It is more secure, will be less costly in the long run, and we will even save a few more trees.

Maybe get rid of paper money and credit cards too - just use fingerprints for exchanging money... I think that'll happen someday.