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FINGERPRINTS NEEDED FOR CAR RENT

London (UK). For British citizens biometrics is now part of daily life. In particular, fingerprints are now needed to rent a car at the London Stansted Airport. Data collected by car renting agencies are automatically sent to the Essex County Police in case of vehicle theft or use for a crime. Sergeant Vic Murphy of the Criminal Investigation Department at the Stansted Airport stated that this initiative is necessary due to the increasing number of car thefts to the detriment of renting agencies, mainly perpetrated with false passports, driving licences and credit cards. According to Murphy, this is not the Big Brother but simply an initiative to protect people identity. The Police force will never control such fingerprints unless a crime is at stake. However, not everybody appreciates the experiment and some have challenged it. Many people are also worried about risks of theft of biometric archives. Despite criticisms the experiment goes on and Europcar declared that it is going to extend such control to its whole network in case at Stansted it all has a positive outcome.

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