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Ft. Worth Police Encourage Stores to Fingerprint Customers
Posted by Ernest Miller on Thursday, September 05 @ 16:57:06 EDT Biometrics
Last Saturday the Fort-Worth Star Telegram published a disturbing story about police encouraging (and possibly mandating) stores to require fingerprint identification for their customers who pay by check (Police ask stores to take fingerprints). [via Red Rock Eater]

The reporter writes:
Operation Thumbs Up, scheduled to begin citywide Sunday, aims to help authorities identify check theft and forgery by obtaining a source of identification that can't be stolen or faked - fingerprints.
Yeah, right. And I have a bridge made of gelatin to sell. How easy is it to fake fingerprints? See LawMeme's (Fingerprint Follies and the Superman/Clark Kent Biometric Conundrum).
Employees will be trained to take fingerprints.
I hope they are trained better than they are with regard to existing security measures. Heck, I don't live in Ft. Worth, but I am seldom asked to show ID when I use a credit card.
Alan Levy, chief of the criminal division of the Tarrant County district attorney's office, said having a fingerprint means "there won't be any question about who passed the check" and will save prosecutors time litigating fraud cases.
Yeah, that'll save time - if the defense lawyers are stupid.
Police said fingerprinting systems are inexpensive compared to merchandise loss and will help keep prices down for the consumer. Systems will cost businesses between $2 and $40 a month to operate, Gibson said. Businesses will purchase the type of system they want to use.
The cheaper the system, the easier it will be to fool.
The systems range from an inkless pad in which the chemical easily rubs off the skin, to an electronic sensor that compares a customer's print to a pre-scanned fingerprint, [Police Sgt.] Crouch said.
And will the police be giving training regarding privacy and protecting this database of biometric data? They didn't seem to make a point of it to the reporter.
"I anticipate if you are not guilty of anything, it's not going to matter to you if someone takes your thumbprint," she [Pam Dawson, property manager for the Lincoln Square shopping center] said.
Oh, in that case, why do we need privacy protection at all?
 
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Related Links
· Fort-Worth Star Telegram
· Police ask stores to take fingerprints
· Red Rock Eater
· Fingerprint Follies and the Superman/Clark Kent Biometric Conundrum
· More about Biometrics
· News by Ernest Miller


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