Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Fingerprinting in Pubs
A new scheme of fingerprinting pub patrons in Yeovil is the next step in the continuing disintegration of civil liberties in the UK.
A number of clubs and pubs in the Somerset area have installed fingerprint scanners at the entrance to their premises and are collecting drinkers personal details. Information is collected as the individual enters the pub and is then forwarded to other licensed venues that are also participating in the fingerprinting program. This information would then be used if an individual had created a disturbance, or committed some form of offense, to prohibit them from re-entering the club or walking down the street and entering another venue.
The scheme is being piloted by local licensees and has the support of the police and the local council. They claim that the scheme will cut the number of incidents of 'anti-social behaviour' within and around licensed venues. Leaving bio-metric information upon entering a pub or club is not compulsory although many bar managers have said that they will turn away patrons that are not willing to leave their details.
It seems that there is nothing to stop this scheme being rolled out across the UK and it could even spread to other countries. The US, Australia and Russia have already expressed an interest in the outcome of the pilot study.
Programs that collect private information seem to be an knee-jerk response to the perceived escalating level of violence and criminal damage by patrons. The UK has made a number of legislative changes in the past decade to monitor its citizens, from the Oyster card to the massive web of CCTV cameras that watch and record the public. It is hard to quantify the real impact that CCTV has made to crime within the UK. Some types of crime have decreased since the introduction of the cameras but there continue to be a growing number of crimes that we know nothing about.
The belief that patrons will be less likely to commit an offense if they have left their details at the door is based on vague psychological theory: if someone knows who you are then you are less likely to cause trouble. While this theory might seem plausible at first, it fails to take into account the impact that alcohol has on an individual's judgement and the high level of egoism and lack of inhibition that is at the root of most pub violence.
Some will say that drinkers should not be worried by fingerprinting if they conduct themselves in an appropriate way. I have many concerns as to how this information is used. I don't like the idea of the existence of a database that records what clubs or pubs I have been to, especially if they are dodgy or uncool. Who will have access to this information and who owns it? How long will it be stored for and how will it be made secure? Many of us are more than happy to trust a great deal of our personal information to an electronic system, it's hard not to in the Internet age, but we should always be careful with who we allow access to this information.
So, is it going to be possible to stop this being introduced all over the UK? That seems to be unlikely as this scheme is being run under the initiative of Yeovil bar and club licensees. It is also being supported by the police forces who are always in favour of collecting more information about the public. The council is also backing the pilot, which is surprising when you consider that South Somerset Council is made up largely of Liberal Democrat councillors. It's sad that a party that has long prided itself as being an upholder of civil liberties has associated itself with such a retrograde policy. It's a testament to the increasingly fractured nature of the Liberal Democrats that this has been promoted by the council. For so long the internal divisions have been kept under control through strong leadership and their position as the third party. Now, with the corpse of the Labour party shedding it's limbs in the direction of the right, many LDs have seen an opportunity to take votes from centrist policies.
This isn't a program that we should just accept. It would be easy to give in and allow our details to be recorded and our local pub to install fingerprint recorders all in the hope that they will change our behaviour or somehow make us safer. In reality, this scheme will probably be a huge waste of money and the loss passed on to patrons over the bar. I don't think it's worthwhile introducing a seemingly mandatory system whose recording of our personal information is open to abuse and exploitation when there is so little to be gained.
Link - the Guardian
Link - the Register
Link - BBC
A number of clubs and pubs in the Somerset area have installed fingerprint scanners at the entrance to their premises and are collecting drinkers personal details. Information is collected as the individual enters the pub and is then forwarded to other licensed venues that are also participating in the fingerprinting program. This information would then be used if an individual had created a disturbance, or committed some form of offense, to prohibit them from re-entering the club or walking down the street and entering another venue.
The scheme is being piloted by local licensees and has the support of the police and the local council. They claim that the scheme will cut the number of incidents of 'anti-social behaviour' within and around licensed venues. Leaving bio-metric information upon entering a pub or club is not compulsory although many bar managers have said that they will turn away patrons that are not willing to leave their details.
It seems that there is nothing to stop this scheme being rolled out across the UK and it could even spread to other countries. The US, Australia and Russia have already expressed an interest in the outcome of the pilot study.
Programs that collect private information seem to be an knee-jerk response to the perceived escalating level of violence and criminal damage by patrons. The UK has made a number of legislative changes in the past decade to monitor its citizens, from the Oyster card to the massive web of CCTV cameras that watch and record the public. It is hard to quantify the real impact that CCTV has made to crime within the UK. Some types of crime have decreased since the introduction of the cameras but there continue to be a growing number of crimes that we know nothing about.
The belief that patrons will be less likely to commit an offense if they have left their details at the door is based on vague psychological theory: if someone knows who you are then you are less likely to cause trouble. While this theory might seem plausible at first, it fails to take into account the impact that alcohol has on an individual's judgement and the high level of egoism and lack of inhibition that is at the root of most pub violence.
Some will say that drinkers should not be worried by fingerprinting if they conduct themselves in an appropriate way. I have many concerns as to how this information is used. I don't like the idea of the existence of a database that records what clubs or pubs I have been to, especially if they are dodgy or uncool. Who will have access to this information and who owns it? How long will it be stored for and how will it be made secure? Many of us are more than happy to trust a great deal of our personal information to an electronic system, it's hard not to in the Internet age, but we should always be careful with who we allow access to this information.
So, is it going to be possible to stop this being introduced all over the UK? That seems to be unlikely as this scheme is being run under the initiative of Yeovil bar and club licensees. It is also being supported by the police forces who are always in favour of collecting more information about the public. The council is also backing the pilot, which is surprising when you consider that South Somerset Council is made up largely of Liberal Democrat councillors. It's sad that a party that has long prided itself as being an upholder of civil liberties has associated itself with such a retrograde policy. It's a testament to the increasingly fractured nature of the Liberal Democrats that this has been promoted by the council. For so long the internal divisions have been kept under control through strong leadership and their position as the third party. Now, with the corpse of the Labour party shedding it's limbs in the direction of the right, many LDs have seen an opportunity to take votes from centrist policies.
This isn't a program that we should just accept. It would be easy to give in and allow our details to be recorded and our local pub to install fingerprint recorders all in the hope that they will change our behaviour or somehow make us safer. In reality, this scheme will probably be a huge waste of money and the loss passed on to patrons over the bar. I don't think it's worthwhile introducing a seemingly mandatory system whose recording of our personal information is open to abuse and exploitation when there is so little to be gained.
Link - the Guardian
Link - the Register
Link - BBC
# posted by Michael @ 4:24 PM 
