June 16, 2001

11:08 PM

Is thisnecessary? Don't we already fingerprint/footprint babies after birth here? Is this just an attempt by our overzealous government to have a classification of every citizen on file? Police these days are scary enough for adults let alone children. Save the children...right?
posted by wantwit (8 comments total)

i think it's a valid movement. as far as i know, they take footprints but not fingerprints at birth (could be wrong on that one, but i know MY fingerprints aren't on record) and having fingerprints of your children recorded can be useful in emergencies...such as kidnapping.
posted by lunarennui at 11:44 PM on June 16, 2001

I got no problem fingerprinting kids at birth as long as the parents or guardians retains possession of the prints until they are needed for an emergency.
posted by kindall at 11:53 PM on June 16, 2001

Are there any evil purposes that fingerprints can be put to? I just can't see the connection between a private company selling fingerprint kits and the Global Police State of Doom(tm).
posted by darukaru at 12:20 AM on June 17, 2001

such as kidnapping

Aren't you more likely to be killed in a car accident (or hit by a meteorite, or just undergo general existence failure) while going shopping to buy one of these kits?
posted by andrew cooke at 12:39 AM on June 17, 2001

I believe that fingerprinting would be used more frequently in missing child cases than kidnapping.
posted by avowel at 11:51 AM on June 17, 2001

I would *never* subject a child to this. What would be the point? "It's so we can identify your corpse, darling, should dental records be inconclusive." I think the fear you would instill in a child's heart would be far more corrosive than the extremely slim chance your kid might be snatched.

Recent photographs, yes. Fingerprints? I mean.
posted by nance at 7:32 PM on June 17, 2001

Thanks, nance. Think about it -- the only way that fingerprints can come into play in a missing child case is to identify a decomposed corpse. Thanks, but no thanks. I'd rather not go to the hassle with my kids on the off chance that such an eventually might come to pass.
posted by Dreama at 10:10 PM on June 17, 2001

Gee, folks, nobody even took footprints of our baby when she was born a few weeks ago. I think that's one of those things that have gone by the wayside.

I think I agree with kindall's standpoint. I wouldn't mind having a set of prints taken, but I'd want to have control over them until such time as they were needed. There's no need to make the coming of the police state happen any more easily than it already is.
posted by briank at 7:09 AM on June 18, 2001