By Nick Heath
Wednesday, January 16 2008 10:49 AM
URL: http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/security/0,39044215,62036648,00.htm

U.K. police are in talks with the FBI about an international biometric database to track down the world's most wanted criminals and terrorists.

The so-called "server in the sky" database would share biometric data, such as fingerprints and iris scans, of criminals internationally.

The FBI suggested the database at a meeting of five countries--Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States--in the International Information Consortium technology group.

The U.K.'s National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) said it was aware of the proposal and that any such system could be linked into existing law enforcement databases such as Ident1, the U.K. repository of more than seven million pieces of biometric data from crime scenes--although there are no formal plans at the moment.

A spokesman for the NPIA said: "The FBI are proposing this and the proposals are being discussed by the International Information Consortium group but these are initial discussions, there are no agreements."

The Home Office also confirmed it was aware of the server in the sky as one of a "wide range of initiatives we are constantly looking at to improve our investigative capabilities".

US defense company Northrop Grumman, which built the Ident1 system, also confirmed it had spoken to the FBI about server in the sky.

The announcement of the server in the sky proposals follows the news earlier this week that the U.K. has completed a system to check the fingerprints of every visa applicant.

No-one at the FBI was available for comment.