Comments on: Big Hubub About Photographing and Fingerprinting Foreigners http://regex.info/blog/2006-05-18/194 Not a photo blog, but sometimes I play one on TV Tue, 02 Dec 2008 03:05:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.12-alpha by: Jeff A. http://regex.info/blog/2006-05-18/194#comment-1861 Fri, 26 May 2006 14:36:37 +0000 http://regex.info/blog/2006-05-18/194#comment-1861 I have to agree with Mr. Friedl. It's not as if foreigners in Japan are being asked to wear radio collars. While I also agree that it is most likely pointless, it IS their country after all and if you are anything short of a full citizen, you are a guest. My very brief stay in Japan qualifies me as an expert on absolutely nothing Japanese, so I need to ask... does fingerprinting even hold the same stigma in Japanese culture? Honestly, I felt I was treated with more respect by the gentleman who looked through my luggage in Narita than the guy grilling me upon my return to JFK. Everyone has their own comfort level with personal information. Perhaps like the nurse who posted, through my work I am numb to any feeling of violation from the taking of my thumb marks. I fail to see the difference between that and a photo. Both are intended to identify you. One is just more accurate, but at the same time less easy to utilize. Also, my fingerprints are hardly private, as I seem to have this habit of running around touching stuff pretty much at will, leaving them everywhere for the taking... I have to agree with Mr. Friedl. It’s not as if foreigners in Japan are being asked to wear radio collars. While I also agree that it is most likely pointless, it IS their country after all and if you are anything short of a full citizen, you are a guest. My very brief stay in Japan qualifies me as an expert on absolutely nothing Japanese, so I need to ask… does fingerprinting even hold the same stigma in Japanese culture? Honestly, I felt I was treated with more respect by the gentleman who looked through my luggage in Narita than the guy grilling me upon my return to JFK.

Everyone has their own comfort level with personal information. Perhaps like the nurse who posted, through my work I am numb to any feeling of violation from the taking of my thumb marks. I fail to see the difference between that and a photo. Both are intended to identify you. One is just more accurate, but at the same time less easy to utilize. Also, my fingerprints are hardly private, as I seem to have this habit of running around touching stuff pretty much at will, leaving them everywhere for the taking…

]]> by: Marcina http://regex.info/blog/2006-05-18/194#comment-1666 Sat, 20 May 2006 16:02:56 +0000 http://regex.info/blog/2006-05-18/194#comment-1666 I had to get fingerprinted to work as a nurse in California. I dont' feel particularly violated. I had to get fingerprinted to work as a nurse in California. I dont’ feel particularly violated.

]]> by: Jeffrey Friedl http://regex.info/blog/2006-05-18/194#comment-1549 Thu, 18 May 2006 06:37:27 +0000 http://regex.info/blog/2006-05-18/194#comment-1549 This is mostly one of those “agree to disagree” things, but your comment about not wanting to be fingerprinted when you're not a criminal seems a bit out of step. Sure, fingerprinting and photo taking are part of the booking process a suspected criminal undergoes (in The States, at least), but there are plenty of other situations where one or the other happen. You have your photo taken when you get a driver's licence, become a student at a college, or come anywhere near me and my new camera (as the <a href="http://pic.regex.info/">15,000 photos of my son</a> attest to:-). There are professions in the US which require fingerprinting prior to entry (e.g. stockbroker, grade-school teacher in some places), children are often fingerprinted at the behest of their parents (in case they're ever lost or something). Anyone with a green card has been fully fingerprinted (all 10 fingers) by a police officer, and paid for the privilege. Due to various ineptitudes of the INS, Fumie had to get fingerprinted <i>five times</i> in her quest for a greencard. In the end, they still misspelled her name on it.... twice. Attributing some kind of “social stigma” to fingerprinting seems as disingenuous an argument as saying that fingerprinting will “help stop terrorism”. I don't buy either, but I suppose I'd feel differently if I already felt that there was some social stigma associated with it, as perhaps you do. As for what you son will think when Daddy is treated differently than Mommy, it's something he'll likely have to get used to. Will Mommy be treated differently than you upon entering your home country? Anyway, this is the least of your problems, if my son is any indication, as he's at the age where he's starting to notice, uh, *#8220;differences” between Mommy and Daddy and asking questions for which the answer is beyond him (but we still have to come up with an answer nevertheless)! This is mostly one of those “agree to disagree” things, but your comment about not wanting to be fingerprinted when you’re not a criminal seems a bit out of step. Sure, fingerprinting and photo taking are part of the booking process a suspected criminal undergoes (in The States, at least), but there are plenty of other situations where one or the other happen.

You have your photo taken when you get a driver’s licence, become a student at a college, or come anywhere near me and my new camera (as the 15,000 photos of my son attest to:-).

There are professions in the US which require fingerprinting prior to entry (e.g. stockbroker, grade-school teacher in some places), children are often fingerprinted at the behest of their parents (in case they’re ever lost or something). Anyone with a green card has been fully fingerprinted (all 10 fingers) by a police officer, and paid for the privilege. Due to various ineptitudes of the INS, Fumie had to get fingerprinted five times in her quest for a greencard. In the end, they still misspelled her name on it…. twice.

Attributing some kind of “social stigma” to fingerprinting seems as disingenuous an argument as saying that fingerprinting will “help stop terrorism”. I don’t buy either, but I suppose I’d feel differently if I already felt that there was some social stigma associated with it, as perhaps you do.

As for what you son will think when Daddy is treated differently than Mommy, it’s something he’ll likely have to get used to. Will Mommy be treated differently than you upon entering your home country? Anyway, this is the least of your problems, if my son is any indication, as he’s at the age where he’s starting to notice, uh, *#8220;differences” between Mommy and Daddy and asking questions for which the answer is beyond him (but we still have to come up with an answer nevertheless)!

]]> by: Terrance http://regex.info/blog/2006-05-18/194#comment-1548 Thu, 18 May 2006 05:56:33 +0000 http://regex.info/blog/2006-05-18/194#comment-1548 Dear Jeffrey, I respectfully disagree with your thoughts re fingerprinting. It is a matter of what authorities will do with that information (Ala BIG BROTHER). Not only that, i feel violated to have to give my fingerprints when I am not a criminal. No person should have to do that. I would rather live in a world of respect harmony and civil rights than in a world driven by fear, BUSH and his puppy Koizumi. What will my son think when his father is fingerprinted and photographed yet he and his mother are not.... difinetly something WRONG with this picture. Dear Jeffrey,

I respectfully disagree with your thoughts re fingerprinting. It is a matter of what authorities will do with that information (Ala BIG BROTHER). Not only that, i feel violated to have to give my fingerprints when I am not a criminal. No person should have to do that. I would rather live in a world of respect harmony and civil rights than in a world driven by fear, BUSH and his puppy Koizumi.

What will my son think when his father is fingerprinted and photographed yet he and his mother are not…. difinetly something WRONG with this picture.

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