FBI WANTS INSTANT ACCESS TO BRITISH IDENTITY DATA
January 15, 2008
Senior British police officials are talking to the FBI about an international database to hunt for major criminals
and terrorists.
The US-initiated programme,
"Server in the Sky", would take cooperation between the police forces way beyond the current faxing of fingerprints across
the Atlantic.
Allies in the "war against terror" - the US, UK,
Australia, Canada and
New Zealand - have formed a working group,
the International Information Consortium, to plan their strategy.
Biometric measurements, irises
or palm prints as well as fingerprints, and other personal information are likely to be exchanged across the network. One
section will feature the world's most wanted suspects. The database could hold details of millions of criminals and suspects.
The FBI is keen for the police
forces of American allies to sign up to improve international security. The Home Office yesterday confirmed it was aware of
Server in the Sky, as did the Metropolitan police.
The plan will make groups
anxious to safeguard personal privacy question how much access to UK
databases is granted to foreign law enforcement agencies. There will also be concern over security, particularly after embarrassing
data losses within the UK, and accuracy:
in one case, an arrest for a terror offence by US investigators used what turned out to be misidentified fingerprint matches.
Britain's National Policing Improvement Agency
has been the lead body for the FBI project because it is responsible for IDENT1, the UK database holding 7m sets of fingerprints and other biometric details used by
police forces to search for matches from scenes of crimes. Many of the prints are either from a person with no criminal record,
or have yet to be matched to a named individual.
IDENT1 was built by the computer
technology arm of the US defence company
Northrop Grumman. In future it is expected to hold palm prints, facial images and video sequences. A company spokeswoman confirmed
that Northrop Grumman had spoken to the FBI about Server in the Sky. "It can run independently but if existing systems are
connected up to it then the intelligence agencies would have to approve," she said.
The FBI told the Guardian:
"Server in the Sky is an FBI initiative designed to foster the advanced search and exchange of biometric information on a
global scale. While it is currently in the concept and design stages, once complete it will provide a technical forum for
member nations to submit biometric search requests to other nations. It will maintain a core holding of the world's 'worst
of the worst' individuals. Any identifications of these people will be sent as a priority message to the requesting nation."
In London, the NPIA confirmed it was aware of Server in the Sky but said it was "too early to
comment on what our active participation might be".
The FBI is proposing to establish
three categories of suspects in the shared system: "internationally recognised terrorists and felons", those who are "major
felons and suspected terrorists", and finally those who the subjects of terrorist investigations or criminals with international
links. Tom Bush, assistant director at the FBI's criminal justice information service, has said he hopes to see a pilot project
for the programme up and running by the middle of the year.
Although each participating
country would manage and secure its own data, the sharing of personal data between countries is becoming an increasingly controversial
area of police practice. There is political concern at Westminster
about the public transparency of such cooperation.
A similar proposal has emerged
from the EU for closer security cooperation between the security services and police forces of member states, including allowing
countries to search each other's databases. Under what is known as the Prum treaty, there are plans to open up access to DNA
profiles, fingerprints and vehicle registration numbers.