Concerns Arise Over Privacy in UK Home Office Biometric Trial for Kids

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.