By LES HORTON<\/p>\n
We finally registered yesterday with the new Labour Market Regulatory Authority, in what was a surprisingly easy exercise.<\/p>\n
I had dreaded going down to the LMRA festival at the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre, fearing hours of queuing.<\/p>\n
But having dragged the children out of bed, skipped breakfast and got into the hall just before 7.30am, we were actually in and out in around 10 minutes.<\/p>\n
Smiling staff escorted us to the family section, where a young Bahraini woman fussed over the children, helped us fill out the relevant form, took our photographs and fingerprints, then sent us on our way.<\/p>\n
It was all very simple and painless, apart from the fact that a computer error at the CPR office means that I am now five months older than I really am.<\/p>\n
But as Sara and I drove away, our conversation turned to how we would have reacted back in our own country to being asked to submit to fingerprinting – and what those records may now be used for.<\/p>\n
Back home we would without doubt have been amongst the objectors, for we come from a country where civil rights have long take precedent over the demands of the authorities – at least that was the case before the notorious 9\/11 attacks in the US.<\/p>\n
But here, we submitted without a whimper, a trade-off of practicality against principle, since to refuse would at some point mean having to leave.<\/p>\n
By the time the LMRA has finished its registrations it will have around 500,000 expatriates on its books, with their photographs and fingerprints available for recall at the click of a computer mouse.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Bahrainis seeking the new electronic Smart Cards, which are replacing the old CPR cards, are being submitted to a similar process, which means that the government will eventually be in possession of the ‘dabs’ of the entire population.<\/p>\n
But who will have access to those records? Will the police be able to tap into what is effectively a national database of finger and thumb prints, plus photos?<\/p>\n
It would certainly help in the fight against crime and I am sure that if it is not available to police, it is certainly on their wish list – just as it is back in the UK.<\/p>\n
By allowing the authorities to document us in this way, we have placed our trust in them that it will not be abused.<\/p>\n
But that information is there forever in electronic storage and who knows who may one day be able to tap into it, or for what purpose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By LES HORTON We finally registered yesterday with the new Labour Market Regulatory Authority, in what was a surprisingly easy exercise. I had dreaded going down to the LMRA festival at the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre, fearing hours of queuing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[397],"yoast_head":"\n