Originally Posted by boondoggie
Can someone explain to me why this won't work? It seems pretty straightforward: Intelligence agencies pick up fingerprints of bad guys from captured safe houses and training camps, fingerprints are put in the database, bad guy tries to enter the US and gets caught. The only way to avoid it to come in some other way.
No ad hominems please. Calling Chertoff an idiot isn't an argument. Just looking for a logical explanation of the position.
here is a few reasons why this is not working...
1) not the finger prints are compared but the computer compares the knots of the finger prints. It relies on a program, and programs are not perfect.
2) computers can only track a very limited number of markes on prints, making ID very unreliable
3) inteligence in the US is a oxymoron, cooperation with overseas services even worse, so the "database" is at best patchy
4) 10% of the population have changing / not useful finger prints due to manual labor
5) changing fingerprints can be done on a PC and laserprinter
6) concealing fingerprints is even easier...