China to Include Fingerprints in ID
In January 2013, the Chinese government will require its citizens to register their fingerprints when applying for ID cards. This pronouncement was made by the Ministry of Public Security at a time when the country is attempting to control counterfeit IDs and the altering of IDs. With fingerprint data in ID cards, it will be easier and faster to identify cardholders.
This is not the first time that China has issued IDs. The program was launched in 1985 but in 2004, a second-version card was issued. By 2010, about 77.6 percent of China’s population was able to secure the second version. This prompted Vice-Minister Huang Ming to announce that IDs issued in 1985 will expire by January 2013. Second-version cardholders will have that choice of registering their fingerprints or not. But those applying for new card or replacing their card will be required to have their fingerprints taken.
The ministry urged public security departments to provide budgets to cover fingerprint-collecting expenses. ID application fees will remain unchanged.
The law was passed after the National People’s Congress, the highest legislature in China, adopted an amendment requiring citizen’s fingerprints to be recorded when applying for new or change ID cards.
Article Topics
access control | civil ID | fingerprint verification | identity proofing | privacy | secure identification
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It depends wethher you have complete trust in your government and police and wethher you think they’re infallible. I have to answer no to both questions. Governments normally have their own agendas. Tony Blair seems determined to push ID cards through in spite of the fact that the experts say the plans are deeply flawed and the majority of the British public don’t want them.In the UK we had the Birmingham Six who spent sixteen years in prison for crimes they didn’t commit. We also had the Guildford Four who spent a similar amount of time in jail even though they were innocent. That’s what happens when the police are operating in a climate like the one we have now and under pressure to achieve convictions no matter what the cost. Lives get ruined.We’ve already seen an erosion of civil liberties in the past five years as new laws have been passed that are supposedly for our own good. Once laws are brought in that curb freedom they’re very difficult to rescind. It should be up to the state to prove a person’s guilt, not up to an individual to prove their innocence!It really depressed me that people are willing to give up their hard-won freedoms so readily!
This is an issue that comes up repeatedly in palctiol discussions on Diggwhy not let the government listen to our phone calls, monitor a bank usage, monitor our internet usage and whatever other unknowns they are monitoring. if you have nothing to hide then whats your problem, it will get rid of the big bad terrorists under the bed (or in the closet, I cant remember where I was told they were hiding)