The Prum Treaty

Heineken Helen

Seriously... how far are they going to go with this whole EU bullshit? So this means that a police officer in say... Romania... can request a sample of my DNA, whether or not I've been convicted or charged with anything... and the gardai will have to get it for them? :eek:

http://www.eurotrib.com/comments/2007/1/10/121114/866/1/post

'Police and security services in the European Union will share access to an unprecedented range of individuals' personal data under a radical package of measures to be discussed by EU justice ministers this week.
It allows agencies in different countries to search one another's databases - DNA records, fingerprints, vehicle details - and other personal information. Even if someone has no criminal record and their DNA is not on a database, police can ask their foreign colleagues to collect a sample.

The measures, known as the Prum Treaty, after the German town where it was signed, are being championed by Germany, which holds the EU presidency. Documents obtained by The Observer show that the Germans are also holding secret talks with top US officials in an attempt to conclude a data-sharing agreement with America - first for Germany alone, then for the EU.

Last week The Observer revealed that all British visitors to the US will have their fingerprints stored alongside criminals' on a database linked to the FBI. 'Prum has several dangers,' Peter Hustinx, the EU's Data Protection Commissioner, said. 'Some of its definitions are very sloppy and it creates an infrastructure that may well not be necessary. The Council of Ministers has not been involved, the European Parliament has not been involved. It bypasses Europe's normal processes of accountability and decision-making.''

Heineken Helen

http://securebar.secure-tunnel.com/cgi-bin/nph-freebar.cgi/110110A/http/www.statewatch.org/news/2006/jul/08fingerprinting-children.htm


'1. The "scanning of the facial image" should be:

"0 to 12 years of age.. storage in the chip [to be] on the basis of national legislation [and] from 12 years of age: Compulsory". (emphasis in original)

The scanning and storage on a "chip" of a "facial image" meets the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) guidelines and is simply based on "digitising" the normal passport picture sent in by post - it is not a biometric and does not require the physical presence of the child.

The report notes "small children.. will not normally be suitable subjects for biometric face recognition by means of a photograph". Moreover, a study from the Netherlands (circulated in the Council) showed that:

"The facial changes taking place up to the age of 12 are so marked that face recognition is not possible without highly sophisticated software and the considerable expense which goes with it"

What the report fails to mention is that "digitised" facial images taken from passport photos only work on "one-to-one" checks and not "one-to-many" (ie: against a database of 25 million people).

2. The taking of finger-prints is a wholly different issue. Here the EU Council Presidency proposes that:

"Scanning of fingerprints up to 12 years of age.. is permissible if provided for by national legislation"

"From 12 years of age: compulsory" (emphasis in original)

And if any member states wants to set a lower limit, eg: 10, 8, 6 or 4 years, or 1 day, old they can do so and from 12 years old the compulsory taking of fingerprints from children.'

Heineken Helen

'The decisions are being made in secret meetings based on secret documents - people and parliaments are to have no say in the decision.

Under this proposal EU states will be free to fingerprint children from day one of their life as soon as it is technologically possible"'


Come on... surely even those of you who don't believe in corrupt governments or conspiracy theories can smell the bullshit here?

jeffbr

Heineken Helen wrote:

'The decisions are being made in secret meetings based on secret documents - people and parliaments are to have no say in the decision.

Under this proposal EU states will be free to fingerprint children from day one of their life as soon as it is technologically possible"'


Come on... surely even those of you who don't believe in corrupt governments or conspiracy theories can smell the bullshit here?

I agree, it is total bullshit. I understood the arguments for the EU, but I never understood how rapidly people of European countries were willing to trade in their sovereignty.

Heineken Helen

jeffbr wrote:

I agree, it is total bullshit. I understood the arguments for the EU, but I never understood how rapidly people of European countries were willing to trade in their sovereignty.

well apparently we're just as stupid over here. We're one of the few countries in the EU who get to VOTE as to whether or not we're gonna ratify each amendment... but they always word it really really stupid where no means yes and yes means no so unless you've read up on what you're actually voting FOR you're more likely to vote how they WANT you to vote. I presume we'll have a referendum on this in the future. We actually voted AGAINST the Nice Treaty so what did they do? Changed a few words to ensure our neutrality wouldn't be in doubt, held the referendum again and we voted FOR :rolleyes: cos they basically told us that no is not an option... I personally think we should leave the EU.