Can IAFIS Get a Hold of Your Fingerprints?

IAFIS - Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System - which is headed under the FBI claims they only collect and store fingerprints of criminals...or do they?

Aliens in our country requesting citizenship have to submit fingerprints to INS, but where do they go from there? Here's a link to my source.
Harvard

I put my thumbprint on some of the checks I cash, along with thousands of Americans every day...Is this an infringment of our rights?

What are your thoughts??


[edit on 7/1/2004 by EnronOutrunHomerun]

I have been required to submit my fingerprints the state and federal agencies. on several occasions, law enforcement job apps, handgun permit, etc. -I recall on one form that by submitting the information I agreed to have it included in a national database. That was in the year 2000. As a computer tech, I worked on a couple of electronic fingerprint machines. They were pretty impressive. Again, I had to sign my life away to have access to the machines.

If they want me, then they got me.

Originally posted by SpectreAs a computer tech, I worked on a couple of electronic fingerprint machines. They were pretty impressive. Again, I had to sign my life away to have access to the machines.

If they want me, then they got me.

That's interesting! There's so many little government agencies and private sector businesses that take fingerprints, it's hard not to question how much traffic there is between them. Not to mention that, say if I were to commit a crime and leave prints, the ease the government would have of barging into these peoples files with even the faintest amount of suspision.

Then you have the whole Fingerprint America thing
Okay...I can see some value to this for kidnapped children, and future criminals, etc..., but I also see this as a ploy for making fingerprints the primary evidence against even the smallest of crimes...no doubt wasting money and time on something that can be solved using traditional means in the same amount of time. Paranoia in America is always such an interesting topic

[quote
If they want me, then they got me.
That's interesting! There's so many little government agencies and private sector businesses that take fingerprints


All nurses and doctors are required to submit a full set of fingerprints upon licensure as well to the FBI for background checks. Those no doubt remain on file as well.

Nurses too, huh?

I wonder how long these things stay on file, and what percentage of error there is in mismatching a fingerprint...what if your bio accidently gets attached to a serial killer's thumbprints by some lacky intern who wants to get home before rush hour - of course it can be disproven by a rematch, but I wouldn't doubt without a lot of inconveniences prior...

I'm sure that if your fingerprints have ever been used for anything by anyone *hospital, cops, federal agencies, military, whoever* they stay on file and are in that database.

I've also wondered what, if any, margin of error there is in using fingerprints, like EnronOutrunHomerun suggests.

Originally posted by EnronOutrunHomerun
Nurses too, huh?
I wonder how long these things stay on file, and what percentage of error there is in mismatching a fingerprint...what if your bio accidently gets attached to a serial killer's thumbprints

I go to jail untill they sort things out. Fun Huh! Im sure that they keep those things on file forever. When we submitted them, it was a full set and we had to pay the local police department to do them and submit them to the FBI directly.

On an interesting note that I forgot earlier--

A few months ago, I was speaking with a National Guard recruiter. There are some things in my past that bar me from enlistment, but he told me that as long as my fingerprints had never been used for anything *not even submitted for employment somewhere*, then the FBI would be less likely to pull up certain things in my medical records. Something tells me that they have more fingerprints than just criminals in there *being that I've never been printed by cops in my life*

*being that I've never been printed by cops in my life*

Yeah - I've never been printed before either...but if I keep up the habits I support, as seen by my signature, however, I don't know how much longer that may last

FredT

When we submitted them, it was a full set and we had to pay the local police department to do them and submit them to the FBI directly.

Was this job related at all to criminal justice?

Was this job related at all to criminal justice?

Registered Nurse

So if I read this right...nurses fingerprints are sent to the same agency that claims to only collect criminal fingerprints...

This sounds interesting - I hope I'm not misunderstaning something here, because this has government liability written all over it...

Originally posted by EnronOutrunHomerun
This sounds interesting - I hope I'm not misunderstaning something here, because this has government liability written all over it...

My impression was that the FBI maintained the database and were keepers of all fingerprints no matter how they are obtained. However, this is what we were told they did with them I did not directly place them in the FBI's hands myself

I wonder what happens with the wrongly convicted...do they stay on file??

The reason I bring this up is...say your fingerprint somehow has similar patterns to a criminal suspect and you are called in for questioning all because you spent years in school becoming a nurse or what have you...Is this a civic duty or a violation of rights, given the fact that further probing could be done in your record?

Originally posted by EnronOutrunHomerun
I wonder what happens with the wrongly convicted...do they stay on file??

The reason I bring this up is...say your fingerprint somehow has similar patterns to a criminal suspect and you are called in for questioning all because you spent years in school becoming a nurse or what have you...Is this a civic duty or a violation of rights, given the fact that further probing could be done in your record?

Im sure it would not show up on my records if I did not get convicted. Im sure it has happened before, and If I got pissed off enough I would get a lawyer and persue my legal options if they detained me too long, they were abusive etc. From a public standpoint, I would be convicted in the media before anything was cleared up Im sure

From a public standpoint, I would be convicted in the media before anything was cleared up Im sure

So true!

Does anybody know the statistics on fingerprints? How much are they like DNA with regards to accuracy?

Originally posted by EnronOutrunHomerun
I wonder how long these things stay on file, and what percentage of error there is in mismatching a fingerprint...what if your bio accidently gets attached to a serial killer's thumbprints

Here is a case of mistaken identity because of finger prints
www.thesmokinggun.com...

The document shows that, as early as mid-April, Spanish investigators questioned whether the fingerprint found on a bag of detonators was actually Mayfield's. Despite those reservations, FBI agents deposited Mayfield in a federal lockup on May 6, holding him there for nearly three weeks.

Ha ha - so maybe we are going somewhere with this...could happen to anybody if your luck is sour enough!

Here's an interesting link that goes the other way though, with regards to accuracy...
NPR

Something I hadn't thought of in relation to this topic before either, but what about IP addresses - unless you can hack yourself out of it, and IP is as good as a fingerprint...
www.atsnn.com...

I was just reading that article when I thought of it...tons of loopholes here and plenty of room for "pin the tail on the donkey"