Besides prisons and police, a number of federal and state government agencies are beginning to use identification technology to help recognize and track individuals. The Immigration and Naturalization Service is developing a database of fingerprints for all illegal aliens intercepted entering the United States from Mexico. The agency also runs fingerprint checks on individuals who apply for citizenship. In addition, counties and states are investing heavily in identification technology to cut down on welfare fraud. But as the pool of individuals required to use these systems grows, so do worries about privacy.
Many people view compulsory fingerprinting as an invasion of privacy.
Meanwhile, concerns have been raised about the proliferation of computerized identification systems and what some people consider the inevitable linking of databases. Individuals who cannot, or will not, use the prescribed system may become outcasts on the edge of society. It's been going on ever since the ancient Egyptians started keeping measurements of their pharaohs. In the 20th century, we have learned how to scan and measure a range of unique identifiers of the body, from the microscopic blood vessels that appear on the retina of the eye and the geometry of the hand, to ridges on the surface of the skin or the aural patterns of the voice. Computers have raised the sophistication and accuracy of biometric identification to new levels.