10-Prints at Dulles Airport

In a widely known event to industry and government insiders, including the privacy and homeland security community, but little-known to the general public, the US-VISIT program component of the Department of Homeland Security began collection of 10 fingerprints yesterday from visitors to the US. Till now, non-US citizen visitors were only required to submit 2 fingers - this additional information will assist the homeland security interests in coordinating their knowledge of persons traveling to and from the county, across all agencies involved, including FBI, State, CBP, etc. This information is particularly useful in matching information from law enforcement (which already utilizes 10 prints) with that of Immigrations and Customs.

A pretty major step forward for Homeland Security, but not necessarily for global privacy rights enthusiasts, right here in our own backyard.