Government begins collecting biometric data via the backdoor?

Yet more surveillance it seems is being pitched to us within isolation, this time at the airport. The pitch is simple, "quicker queuing" at the airport. The Immigration Minister Liam Byrne, launched the miSense iris and fingerprint scanning system at Heathrow's Terminal 3.

Every newspapers appears to be running the story, and every newspaper doesn't seem to be asking the most important questions. Where is the data being stored? Is it being retained? Who owns the systems where it is stored? Who is it being shared with?

According to the FAQs on the miSense website, the data from the trial will be used and shared by "other UK Government departments and agencies for evidence of criminality." The FAQ states that the data will be destroyed when the trial ends (that's only the data on miSense though, not the data that has been shared with "other" departments and agencies). There are no details of how long the trial is, or, if it is successful, whether it will simply be extended.

Call me a paranoid geek if you like, but given the system was launched and hailed as wonderful by a Government Minister, I'd say they're beginning the process of harvesting our biometric data in advance of the ID Card bill. I'm willing to bet the trial is a "success", the programme is then extended, and that the miSense system forms the backbone of the ID Card registration centres.

N.B. Image from Daily Telegraph. Click image for larger version.