Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Braindead Chertoff: Fingerprints Aren’t ‘Personal Data’


Thinkprogress:




Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has badly stumbled in discussing the Bush administration’s push to create stricter identity systems. Chertoff was recently in Canada discussing, among other topics, the so-called “Server in the Sky” program to share fingerprint databases among the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Australia.


In a recent briefing with Canadian press (which has yet to be picked up in the U.S.), Chertoff made the startling statement that fingerprints are “not particularly private”:


QUESTION: Some are raising that the privacy aspects of this thing, you know, sharing of that kind of data, very personal data, among four countries is quite a scary thing.


SECRETARY CHERTOFF: Well, first of all, a fingerprint is hardly personal data because you leave it on glasses and silverware and articles all over the world, they’re like footprints. They’re not particularly private.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, well I guess used tampons aren't "personal data" either by Chertoff standards. Sick, Skelator, really sick!

airJackie said...

This is the first time in my adult years I've even seen an Administration hire all idiots. Not one Bush Appointee heading a Department has any common sense. It shows what kind of people the White House has as friends. I know we have alot of stupid people in the US but to have so many in top jobs for Government is history making.