Free Republic

Thursday, May 29, 2003 Cafeteria will be scanning fingers The Associated Press AKRON - School officials hope a new fingerprint scanning system will make needy youngsters comfortable getting free cafeteria meals. The system will be implemented in the fall in Akron's middle and high schools serving 15,000 youngsters, about half of whom are eligible for free or discounted meals. Because of the poverty stigma of free meals, only 19 percent of high school students and 26 percent of middle school students apply, Debra Foulk, nutrition coordinator for city schools, said Wednesday. For those who pay, the system allows parents to...

PARIS: France moved to clamp down on illegal immigration Wednesday with a new law approved by the government which will toughen conditions for entry and residence in the country and create a fingerprint database of visa applicants. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said the aim of the law -- which must now go through parliament -- was to stop the estimated 30,000 illegal entries into France every year and at the same time encourage the integration of those who arrive in the country lawfully. "If you have your papers you are welcome in France. If you have false papers, or if...

A police program aimed at convincing Longview merchants to fingerprint check-writing customers got off to a slow start Monday, but officials hope for a more enthusiastic response today. Police want all Longview merchants to join the Thumbprint Signature developed by the Texas Bankers Association to cut down on check fraud and forgery. Participating businesses collect a thumbprint from check writers directly on the check. The print will be a crucial piece of evidence if the check turns out to be bad, police say. Only about a dozen people, representing about eight businesses, attended the 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. come-and-go...

Take everyone's DNA fingerprint, says pioneer By Steve Connor in Long Island, New York 03 February 2003 Everybody in Europe and the US should have their genetic fingerprints entered into an international database to enable law enforcement agencies to fight crime and terrorism in an unstable world, according to James Watson, the co-discoverer of the DNA double helix. In an exclusive interview with The Independent to mark the 50th anniversary of his discovery, the scientist said the risks posed by terrorists and organised criminals now outweighed the possible objections on civil liberties grounds to a DNA database. "It is not...

Even before police had caught the two men who could turn out to be the snipers, the Bush administration and the National Rifle Association (NRA) were busy lobbying against any new gun-control proposals. Ari Fleischer, asked on October 14 about a bill in Congress establishing ballistic fingerprinting, responded, "Certainly, in the case of the sniper, the real issue is values." But for local police the real issue was never values (one of the snipers, after all, had already claimed an acquaintance with God), but apprehending the shooters. And in the beginning all they had to go on were some vague,...

<p>President Bush wants a review of a proposed national tracking system to trace bullets.</p> <p>WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The White House has asked firearms officials to conduct a review of a proposed national tracking system to trace bullets, a senior administration official told CNN Wednesday -- one day after President Bush's spokesman strongly suggested the administration was opposed to such a system.</p>

<p>I did a search and didn't see this posted so here goes...</p>

Tuesday, 8 October, 2002, 17:00 GMT 18:00 UK Riyadh 'to fingerprint US visitors' Saudis were angered by new US security regimeUS diplomats say Saudi Arabia is set to impose tit-for-tat immigration procedures on American citizens following the tightening of security checks on some visitors to the United States. The US embassy in Riyadh has advised Americans that they may be subjected to fingerprinting as part of the visa and entry process, and may be given visas that are shorter in duration and more expensive. An embassy statement to US expatriates quoted by news agencies said the new measures were "in...

CAIRO, Egypt –– Arabs and Muslims reacted angrily Wednesday to a Justice Department plan to fingerprint and photograph visitors to America, saying they are being unfairly targeted because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. "If they want to do this they should apply it to all visa holders. Muslims and Middle Easterners don't have to be terrorists. This is an insult," Egyptian physician Hany Fares said. Fares has applied for a U.S. visa to visit his fiancee, who is studying in Washington.

U.S. Unveils Fingerprint Plan, Angers Arab GroupsWed Jun 5, 3:27 PM ETBy James Vicini WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) said on Wednesday as many as 100,000 visitors a year will be fingerprinted, photographed and registered in an anti-terrorism effort that has outraged Arab and immigration groups who say Middle Eastern men will be targeted. Photos Reuters Photo He told a news conference the government was invoking a little-used law from the early 1950s and applying it to countries identified as having the highest risk for terrorism. "Today I am announcing the National Security...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Outraging Arab and immigration groups, the U.S. government will require as many as 100,000 visitors a year -- most of them Middle Eastern men -- to be fingerprinted, photographed and registered in an effort to monitor possible terrorists, officials said on Wednesday.   Photos Reuters Photo Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) prepared to announce at a news conference that the government was invoking a little-used law from the early 1950s and applying it to countries identified as having the highest risk for terrorism. "This is about terrorist tracking," one official said. "It is one...

The furor last month following the issuance of student visas to suicide hijackers Mohammed Atta and Marwan Alshehhi is wholly misplaced. As was the furor last October over the proposal by software magnate Larry Ellison that the United States begin issuing national identification cards. As at least Ellison should know, visas, passports and ID cards are wholly unnecessary. You are an identification card. A living, breathing one that is exponentially harder to forge than a laminated card, an application form or a pocket-size brochure of any kind. Matching the geometry of a hand is successful 999 times out of 1,000....