Labour's Message To Britain: Your Suspects Not Subjects

All new passport applications are to require applicants to report to one of seventy new passport service offices to have their fingerprints recorded in the national fingerprint database. Police and the security services are to have full access to the database. It used to be only convicted criminals had their fingerprints taken and kept by the state. Now the state keeps a record of DNA and fingerprints of anyone arrested even if they are not convicted never mind charged with a criminal offense. The fact that 80% of people in the UK have a passport means that the government will get it's ID card white elephant in the back door without consulting parliament. No doubt state authoritarians and IT companies are salivating at the thought of another juicy database to sink their fangs into. The whole thing stinks of the twin bastions of Labour's project to create legions of Labour voting civil servants to run their schemes, while reducing civil liberties in the process. It makes me want to punch the next snivelling government minister I see on the telly going on about protecting civil liberties from terrorist attack. More here.