Arrests reignite debate over fingerprint database

"In the US, every newborn baby has to give its fingerprints when it applies for a social security card," Yeh said. "The fingerprint information is only used by the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for criminal investigation purposes. That is what we are trying to do here in Taiwan as well."

Lawmakers are also warming to the idea.

TSU Legislator Chien Lin Hui-chun (錢林慧君) said human rights and privacy should be protected at all costs. However, if a new mechanism finds criminals more quickly, more innocent people's human rights would be protected, she said.

"A national fingerprint database would enable the police to find the criminals a lot more easily," she said. "In addition, whenever there's a disaster, this databank will also help forensic pathologists and family members identify bodies."

DPP lawmaker Lee Wen-chung (李文忠) said that it was necessary to establish a national fingerprint database for security reasons, but with protections for human rights.

"From a security point of view, I support the proposal. However, how the fingerprint databank is used should be regulated by law so there will be no problems of violating human rights," Lee said.

PFP lawmaker Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) agreed.

"We're living in a high-tech world," Lee Hung-chun said. "While we're building a national fingerprint database, we should at the same time make sure people's rights are protected."

Executive Yuan Spokesman Chuang Shuo-han (莊碩漢) said that the government was not planning to present a fingerprint database bill until experts and lawmakers had come up with a well-organized mechanism to clarify the questions that human-rights activists had raised.

"Protecting human rights is always our top priority," Chuang said. "We won't support the proposal before human-rights groups accept it."

In the meantime, the President's Advisory Group on Human Rights said that seminars would be held next month to discuss this issue.