Disney World is collecting fingerprints.

[IntiRaymi]

Walt Disney World: The Government's Tomorrowland?

By Karen Harmel, Laura Spadanuta, August 14, 2006

Walt Disney World, which bills itself as one of the happiest and most magical places anywhere, also may be one of the most closely watched and secure.

Walt Disney World, which bills itself as one of the happiest and most magical places anywhere, also may be one of the most closely watched and secure. And control over park entrances is getting even tighter: the nation's most popular tourist attraction now is beginning to scan visitor fingerprint information.

For years, Disney has recorded onto tickets the geometry and shape of visitors’ fingers to prevent ticket fraud or resale, as an alternative to time-consuming photo identification checks.

By the end of September, all of the geometry readers at Disney’s four Orlando theme parks, which attract tens of millions of visitors each year, will be replaced with machines that scan fingerprint information, according to industry experts familiar with the technology.

“It’s essentially a technology upgrade,” said Kim Prunty, spokeswoman for Walt Disney World. The new scanner, like the old finger geometry scanner, "takes an image, identifies a series of points, measures the distance between those points, and turns it into a numerical value." She added, "To call it a fingerprint is a little bit of a stretch."

http://newsinitiative.org/story/2006/08/14/walt_disney_world_the_governments

.....

Perfect. Happily anaesthetized suburbanites giving up freedoms, for the sake of a false experience.
This is the future, folks.

[wakeme2008]

1. They will also do photo id passes

Which I think is better. :)

[IntiRaymi]

3. Well, that is just it.

Anyone who thinks that this information is not somehow being matched up against an FBI/NSA/CIA/Interpol/Mossad/etc database is mistaken.
Consider that the US government was far quicker at granting DisneyWorld a 'no fly' zone in airspace above it, than at granting an equivalent thing for the city of Chicago. In fact, the Federal Government had to get dragged kicking and screaming into doing this for Chicago by Mayor Daley.
This, to me, is a symptom of the kind of government we have: Corporate profits are the most important thing, since our government represents THEM, and not US.

[wakeme2008]

6. Disney has always been "special"

In the late 70s they had a restricted airport that nobody but their approved planes could land at.

[obreaslan]

2. They can have my fingerprint...

It's in my signature below...

[Jamastiene]

4. Well, they sure can't say you didn't cooperate with them

on the fingerprints. :rofl:

[marmar]

15. Amen to that...

Fuck Mickey and Donald. Twice.

[Ian David]

5. Just put rubber cement on your fingers. The results will be meaningless.nt

[shain from kane]

19. I dip my fingers in acid every night, anticipating the day when some one

will come for them. But if I am the only one that does it, then I will be readily identifiable as "The Man With No Fingerprints". So, join me. I'll even supply the first tab of acid.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. If it gets me through the line faster...

more power to them.

[AngryOldDem]

8. Reason #1,249,500,000....

...to hate Disney World, and why I will never, ever go near that place. It is my idea of hell.

[Pierogi_Pincher]

12. We went many years ago

to see what it was all about. I wasn't impressed. Would NEVER go again. For love nor money.
:hi:
P_P

[AngryOldDem]

16. Friends of ours actually picked up and moved to Orlando...

...because they just fell in love with the Disney experience. And they were childless. They drove us around the outskirts of the place, and filled us in on all the cool and grandiose plans Disney had -- houses, a hospital, virtually a city within a city. Now I know that Orlando has probably recouped a hundredfold all the tax breaks it gave Disney to come to town, but it was clear that Disney was positioning itself to be a little kingdom unto itself. I was repulsed.

If people like going down there, spending their money and standing in line...OK. But as for me and my family, we'll take Sanibel Island or anyplace on the Sun Coast any day. I am not even the bit curious to see what Disney all about -- that little 45-minute drive around the periphery did it for me -- greed, greed, and more greed.

[Pierogi_Pincher]

18. "Any place on the Sun Coast"

Agree because of partiality. We have a small family condo on the west coast, and to just go there and do non-touristy fun things is divine.

P_P

edit for spell.

[seemunkee]

9. They could do this without storing any informatioin

scan finger and encode data on ticket. The user then swipes the ticket and presses finger on reader. If there is a match then the user is admitted.
Thats it no storage necessary. Of course I wouldn't trust them to not store it anyway.

This is coming soon to every Federal worker and contractor in the country. Pilot systems will start to be deployed next month.

[VelmaD]

10. And there's the actual point...

it's about desensitizing people. "What are you complaining about...we have to do it to get into Disney World...it's no big deal...you got something to hide?"

And of course they've so demonized government employees over the last 25 years that no one cares what happens to them.

[onehandle]

11. This is about controlling costs, not security.

This has nothing to do with Homeland Security or anyone else "spying" on people.
(maybe later, but not yet)

This came up a while back when someone noticed the biometric scanners.

The image is matched with the pass they've bought so no one else can use it.

After a month the image is deleted. And if you buy a new pass they scan you again.

The sky is not falling, folks.

[IntiRaymi]

14. A private entity is collecting intimate information on its customers.

This might be where a supposed 'costcutting' measure has to run face first into a brick wall of privacy advocates. This IS a slippery slope, in the sense that we are conditioned to accept these types of intrusions into our daily existence.

[KansDem]

13. Yeah! Well, if fingerprints are so damn important to DisneyCo

...why are so many of their cartoon characters WEARING GLOVES?











HUH! HUH!! Bet you didn't think of that, did'ya!...

What are THEY hiding...?!?!?

...kinda hard to tell with Donald, though.

[shain from kane]

17. Donald doesn't wear pants. And that voice is too distinctive to

mean only one person(?). Besides, why would you vacation at Disneyworld if you lived there?

[KansDem]

20. Good point...! good point.......(eom)

[Pab Sungenis]

21. They've been doing this for over ten years.

They match biometric data to annual passports and other special tickets, to prevent ticket sharing. It's nothing new.