KEY POINTS:
New Zealand visitors to the United States will have details about scars and the size and shape of their earlobes added to a new FBI database.
The US$1 billion ($1.3 billion) project will bring together the world's largest collection of information of people's physical characteristics at FBI headquarters in Washington.
Facial, fingerprint and palm pattern information is already collated by the FBI but at the weekend the Washington Post reported that iris patterns, scars, walking and speech patterns and facial data such as earlobe shape would eventually be added to the database.
Details about how the information will be collected is unclear but the database will include characteristics on anyone who applies for a visa to enter the US.
It will allow the FBI to check the information against the faces, earlobes and irises of known terrorists and wanted criminals.
An FBI spokeswoman said New Zealand could currently get information from the bureau by arrangement but talks would be held early next year to formalise access.
New Zealand authorities already collate several databases of biological information about citizens. As well as police fingerprint and DNA databases, in 2005 electronic passports with a chip containing personal data and a digital photo of the owner were introduced.
The biometric identifier was added to new New Zealand passports because it is a standard required by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
It is becoming increasingly common for travellers to be asked to supply biometric information to gain access to countries. This month it was announced that New Zealanders planning to stay in Britain for more than six months would need to submit biometric data to receive a visa.
British civil liberties groups have reacted with concern to the extent of the FBI database plans - and their officials' access to them - warning that the US may end up holding more biometric information about people than their own country can legally have.
NZ civil libertarians share their concerns. Green MP Keith Locke said New Zealand was going too far down the biometric track and did not need to access such data about its citizens.
"There could be a double standard. They [the Government] say New Zealanders are not going to have biometric information taken from them at the present time, and yet they are getting access to biometric information about New Zealanders. "
Mr Locke said an independent audit of the US Homeland Security biometric database had found 38 per cent of entries sampled had factual errors. That left New Zealanders open to being wrongly detained, he said.
"We're also buying into the American definition of security - who is a risk and who isn't - that saw Cat Stevens being deemed a risk. All kinds of people have been held up wrongly at the American border and we are getting closer to that standard."
In 2004 Stevens, the English singer-songwriter who adopted the name Yusuf Islam after he converted to Islam, was detained on "national security grounds" and expelled from the US after a spelling error saw him confused with a man on the Department of Homeland Security's no-fly list.
The FBI's plan to gather pictures of earlobes and other facial characteristics could be of dubious value anyway.
Auckland ear surgeon Hamish Sillars said although earlobes varied in shape and size, they were unlikely to be a reliable tool to identify someone. "No two faces are alike. [Earlobes] are a very small area to target; there would be a very fine variation.
"I wouldn't like to look at a photo of my relative's ear and pick who it was without seeing the face."
A contract to develop the database will be awarded next month.
