A Home Office department is fingerprinting under-fives,
and may include babies, in a biometrics ID scheme. The trial ends
the department’s technological taboo on enrolling very young
children in identity checks.
Details of the scheme emerged after the Home Office released an
internal report under the Freedom of Information Act, which
contained a section on fingerprinting under-fives.
The UK could be one of the first countries to fingerprint
under-fives – and possibly the first. When Malaysian police last
year proposed fingerprinting of babies there were strong protests
from civil liberties groups in the country.
If the trial is successful, it could encourage the government to
consider gathering fingerprints from very young children for
passport applications. The legal framework exists for this to
happen.
Very young children have in the past been considered unsuitable
for fingerprinting because their newly-formed fingers stretch too
quickly for a one-off capture of data to yield a reliable
historical record.
But the internal Home Office report refers to developing
algorithms to enhance the performance of systems for
under-fives.
The Home Office confirmed it has been fingerprinting all
children under five at its asylum screening unit in Croydon – where
the Immigration and Nationality Department has its headquarters –
and its Liverpool centre.
A spokeswoman said, “Fingerprinting is an established biometric
technology that is known to work with very young children and for
which there is already an established legal framework.” She added
that there was no minimum age for fingerprinting in the trials.
The report for the Immigration and Nationality Directorate,
entitled Co-ordination and Management of Biometrics, warned there
were possible drawbacks with fingerprinting. Depending on the
technology used, those being fingerprinted may have to be
“man-handled”. It also warned that some people and cultures may
object to touching sensors used by others.
Application registration cards – described as the UK’s first
biometrics ID card – are issued to all asylum seekers. Biometrics
from very young children and babies could be incorporated into
these cards.
Asylum seekers with families gain preferential treatment for
their applications. The aim of fingerprinting under-fives is to
close a loophole that authorities said could allow a single child
to be used by multiple asylum applicants feigning parenthood.