●英字新聞社ジャパンタイムズによる英語学習サイト。英語のニュース、よみもの、リスニングなどのコンテンツを無料で提供。無料見本紙はこちら
英語学習サイト ジャパンタイムズ 週刊STオンライン
『The Japan Times ST』オンライン版 | UPDATED: Wednesday, May 15, 2013 | 毎週水曜日更新!   
  • 英語のニュース
  • 英語とエンタメ
  • リスニング・発音
  • ことわざ・フレーズ
  • 英語とお仕事
  • キッズ英語
  • クイズ・パズル
  • 留学・海外生活
  • 英語のものがたり
  • 会話・文法
  • 週刊ST購読申し込み
     時事用語検索辞典BuzzWordsの詳しい使い方はこちら!
カスタム検索
 

Opinion

Fingerprints again?

By Douglas Lummis


また指紋をとるのですか?

日本政府は外国人登録証発行にあたって、 指紋押捺を義務付けようとしているが、 この意味合いは「登録」というより「威かく」にある。

Now the government is saying it wants to start fingerprinting foreigners again. Readers may remember that some years ago there was a big fight over this, which the government lost. Foreigners were supposed to stamp their fingerprints on their, excuse me, our Alien Registration Certificates. There was a big anti-fingerprinting movement, led mainly by young Korean residents, who felt they were being discriminated against, and treated like criminals. Many resorted to civil disobedience, simply refusing to give their fingerprints. And some city offices, which were supposed to take these fingerprints, cooperated with the movement by refusing to force people to give their prints. Eventually the government gave in. On the Alien Registration Certificate that I keep in my wallet, there is no fingerprint. (Of course the government presumably has on file the print that I gave them years before.)

Now they want to start fingerprinting again. Probably this is partly a result of the xenophobic anti-foreign campaigning that has been going on in the media, led by people like Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara. (A question for you readers who are voters in metropolitan Tokyo: How do you feel about the fact that you have a real Nazi as your governor? Does it trouble you? Do you ever lose sleep thinking about it? Or do you [as some people have told me] find it stimulating and entertaining?)

Whatever the reason, the government apparently believes that this time it can win. We shall see. But it's interesting that the government is trotting out its old fingerprint threat just at a time when fingerprint identification is coming under increasing criticism. There is an interesting article in the U.S. newsletter Counterpunch (v. 12, no. 22, Dec. 2005) that argues that fingerprinting, which became fashionable in the same age that produced such "sciences" as phrenology, was always a pseudo-science. According to this article, an independent study of fingerprinting experts in U.S. crime laboratories found many instances of "false positives," that is, reports that this fingerprint matched that one, when in fact they came from different persons. This is a serious matter, as in the United States fingerprint evidence has been considered a 100% foolproof science, and accused persons are often convicted and punished on the basis of a single fingerprint.

Fingerprinting was invented in 19th Century India, and was first used by a British colonial administrator to intimidate his Indian laborers (whose faces he could not distinguish) from turning up more than once to be paid. He'd make a big show of scrutinizing the fingerprints he insisted they daub on his ledger book.

This account fits well with the way it feels to be fingerprinted. Not only do you feel you are being treated like a criminal, you also feel (because of all we have been taught about how perfect certain fingerprint identification is) like you have given the authorities a big power over you.

As in old India, so today: the main function of fingerprinting is surely not identification, but intimidation. (496 words)


Discussion: Is it right that foreigners have to submit their fingerprints?



Shukan ST: March 17, 2006

(C) All rights reserved



英語のニュース |  英語とエンタメ |  リスニング・発音 |  ことわざ・フレーズ |  英語とお仕事 |  キッズ英語 |  クイズ・パズル
留学・海外就職 |  英語のものがたり |  会話・文法 |  執筆者リスト |  読者の声 |  広告掲載
お問い合わせ |  会社概要 |  プライバシーポリシー |  リンクポリシー |  著作権 |  サイトマップ