The UK is to share fingerprint information with Canada
and Australia, with the US and New Zealand to follow soon,
theHome
Officesaid today.
The collaboration will make it easier to detect
people with criminal histories in other countries, speed up
deportations and
establish previously unknown identities, the Home Office
said.
The new data-sharing agreement is aimed at fighting identity
fraud, the Home Office said in a statement. It is a product of the
Five Country Conference on immigration and border control.
It said the US will be joining shortly and New Zealand is to
consider legislation to join in the near future.
For the first year each country will be able to share and check
3,000 sets of fingerprints with partner countries. This will let
them explore the feasibility of routine information sharing, the
Home Office said.
UK Border Agency deputy chief executive Jonathan Sedgwick said
the checks would complement ones they already share with European
partners. Trials had already shown results, he said.
"This new agreement will help us identify and remove individuals
whose identities were previously unknown but also improve public
safety through better detection of lawbreakers and those coming to
the UK for no good."
The Home Office said an individual who claimed asylum in the UK
as a Somali was found to have been fingerprinted in the US while
travelling on an Australian passport. Australia subsequently
confirmed he was an Australian citizen wanted by police on a charge
of rape. The US deported him to Australia, where he was tried and
jailed.
Measures to protect privacy include:
- Ensuring all fingerprints are anonymous and cannot be linked to
an individual unless a match is detected between countries.
- Destroying fingerprints once a match made, with no fingerprint
database being compiled.
- Using encryption and other security tools to protect shared
files.
The UK Border Agency published a
privacy impact assessment that sets out how the arrangement
will operate.