Air America breaking news: "USA to fingerprint ALL visitors !!!"

Dear allies, welcome to the age of digital fascism... :

Millions of visitors from some of the United States' closest allies soon
will have to be fingerprinted and photographed before entering the country,
U.S. officials said yesterday. Officials said the requirements of the U.S.
VISIT program will be expanded this fall to cover about 13 million travelers
each year from 27 countries, including Australia, Britain and Japan, whose
citizens are allowed to travel within the United States for as many as 90
days without a visa. The program -- an effort to track down criminals,
suspected terrorists and travelers who overstay visas -- began Jan. 5 and
now applies mainly to about 19 million visitors each year from Central and
South America, Africa and Asia.

The expansion, which will take effect by Sept. 30, means only diplomats and
travelers from Mexico and Canada will not be fingerprinted and photographed
when they enter the United States through 115 airports and 14 seaports, said
Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary for border and transportation security at the
Department of Homeland Security. ...

Here is a list of the 27 countries in the Visa Waiver Program whose citizens
will have to be photographed and fingerprinted on arrival in the United
States under a new program announced today.

Andorra
Austria
AUSTRALIA
Belgium
Brunei
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Monaco
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
PORTUGAL
San Marino
Singapore
Slovenia
SPAIN
Sweden
Switzerland
UNITED KINGDOM

U.S. Will Fingerprint 13 Million More in Fall - Visitors From Close Allies
To Be Photographed, Too - By Christopher Lee and Sara Kehaulani Goo -
Washington Post Staff Writers - Saturday, April 3, 2004; Page A01

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Air America: The greatest CIA-operation ever !!!

On Sat, 3 Apr 2004 07:27:28 +0200 Oelewapper said...

The expansion, which will take effect by Sept. 30, means only diplomats and
travelers from Mexico and Canada will not be fingerprinted and photographed
when they enter the United States through 115 airports and 14 seaports, said
Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary for border and transportation security at the
Department of Homeland Security. ...

So presumably the easiest way to get in to the US without these stupid
fingerprint and photograph checks is to say fly in to Canada and cross
over the border by road....

--
Phil Richards
London

Oelewapper schrieb:

snip

The expansion, which will take effect by Sept. 30, means only diplomats and
travelers from Mexico and Canada will not be fingerprinted and photographed
when they enter the United States

Don't these countries make up the majority of people entering the US?

And the American's wonder why US airlines are going broke? This looks like
the final nail in the coffin for UA and AA. When will George ever wake up
and realise he's not John Wayne..
"Oelewapper" wrote in message
...
Dear allies, welcome to the age of digital fascism... :

Millions of visitors from some of the United States' closest allies soon
will have to be fingerprinted and photographed before entering the
country,
U.S. officials said yesterday. Officials said the requirements of the
U.S.
VISIT program will be expanded this fall to cover about 13 million
travelers
each year from 27 countries, including Australia, Britain and Japan, whose
citizens are allowed to travel within the United States for as many as 90
days without a visa. The program -- an effort to track down criminals,
suspected terrorists and travelers who overstay visas -- began Jan. 5 and
now applies mainly to about 19 million visitors each year from Central and
South America, Africa and Asia.

The expansion, which will take effect by Sept. 30, means only diplomats
and
travelers from Mexico and Canada will not be fingerprinted and
photographed
when they enter the United States through 115 airports and 14 seaports,
said
Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary for border and transportation security at
the
Department of Homeland Security. ...

Here is a list of the 27 countries in the Visa Waiver Program whose
citizens
will have to be photographed and fingerprinted on arrival in the United
States under a new program announced today.

Andorra
Austria
AUSTRALIA
Belgium
Brunei
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Monaco
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
PORTUGAL
San Marino
Singapore
Slovenia
SPAIN
Sweden
Switzerland
UNITED KINGDOM

U.S. Will Fingerprint 13 Million More in Fall - Visitors From Close Allies
To Be Photographed, Too - By Christopher Lee and Sara Kehaulani Goo -
Washington Post Staff Writers - Saturday, April 3, 2004; Page A01

-----
Air America: The greatest CIA-operation ever !!!

Just listened to a report on BBC Radio4, and well, after thoughtful
consideration... even if it means giving in to Bush & Ashcroft and their
lousy Patriot Act / TIA program, I would probably settle for the so-called
"compromise":
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/li...a_20040403.ram

Better have people's fingerprints taken at US airports without the so-called
'new generation of biometric EU-passports' (in my case simply meaning no
longer visiting the US), rather than having no fingerprints taken at US
airports in exchange for the EU member countries having biometric passports
imposed on them by the present (fascist ?) regime in Washington ...

-----
Air America: The greatest CIA-operation ever !!!

On Mon, 05 Apr 2004 00:56:26 -0700, "Gary L. Dare"
wrote:

Marie Lewis wrote:

They were not going to the USA, or even entering Spain. They lived there.
Like the 911 culprits. And they had full visas.



Actually, better than the 9/11 culprits since some of the Spain conspirators
are/were permanent residents or naturalized citizens, plus a couple of
native Spaniards of the criminal persuasion who supplied them but did
not know what the ultimate goal was.

The 9/11 culprits had visitor visa overstayers as well as some on valid
visas.

I don't know if the news ever made it across the pond but the US has
seen nearly 40 US citizens convicted in terror-related cases including
the "Portland Seven" and the "Buffalo Eight" - 14 out of 15 were born
Americans, native-born like the eight apprehended last week in the UK
and the one in Canada ... Even with electronic monitoring by all of
the wealthy countries, all would have been allowed entry to home.

gld


Here's a couple of ways the CIA and FBI failed the public.

I don't believe that the CIA and FBI had hardly enough Arab
translators.

All the FBI is concerned with is a quick criminal prosecution. The FBI
should have made an attempt to turn one or more of the Buffalo Eight
in order to gather intelligence on Al Quada.

On Mon, 05 Apr 2004 15:17:46 -0400, Stephen Harding
wrote:

Representative government
means just that; *my* Senator or Congressman should reflect
*my* concerns, not the citizens of France. If he does,
then he pays the political price for not doing what *I*
want him to do.

Well, I hope most of his constituents want him not act as if the US is
in a world of its own.

To be more specific, maybe every poster on rta isn't entitled to have
his beliefs stated and considered by the US government but I believe
governments should have a voice in how their citizens are treated at
immigration in other countries. Freedom travel is essential to getting
business done and I personally think it's right up there with other
major human freedoms. In that sense your congressman should indeed
consider the concerns of the gov't of France and a bunch of other
countries.

nobody wrote:

But if a government captures your own body's information
(fingerprints, DNA, eye retina scan etc), then they "own"
part of your body/identity.

Ahhh, those commies are trying to affect the "purity of my vital bodily
fluids". **

(** General Jack D. Ripper - from Dr. Strangelove.)

Chad Irby wrote:

James Robinson wrote:

"Big Brother" is not restricted to totalitarian regimes. Again, being a
democracy, does it make it better that they take photos and fingerprints
from everybody?

But I don't see you complaining about the *real* Big Brother problem of
all of the security cameras in England...

I don't consider that a particular problem, since they aren't
automatically tracking my whereabouts. It is no worse than the systems
already in place in the US. Have you looked at the ceiling in your
local Walmart to see how many cameras they have?

The problem I have with taking fingerprints is that they are
specifically using them to track people, and marry up to central
databases of info on what I read in libraries, who I send Emails to, and
what I purchase with my credit card. That is a much more insidious
agenda than simply replacing the beat policeman's eyes with a camera.

Good idea. Let's all pass out assault weapons so the terrorists can get
hold of them more easily. And don't register them, so you can't find
them.

Another fool who thinks that outlawing and/or registering firearms will
keep criminals and terrorists from getting them...

My intent was to expose the inconsistency in your argument. You have no
problem with the government tracking peoples movements and maintaining a
database on your activities, but complain about the simple registration
of firearms, when you acknowledge that is a waste of time.

Stephen Harding wrote:

Well the US and Europe are going their separate ways. I'm hoping
the divorce is a rapid one personally, and certainly better for
both I've come to believe.

There is an old saying that people who fail to learn from history are
destined to repeat it.

In the case of isolationism, the US has tried that numerous times
before, and has thoroughly regretted it each time. You had better
rethink you position.