A group of German hackers have threatened to publish German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s fingerprints in protest of the government’s use of biometric information in passports.

The hackers are part of Germany’s oldest and biggest hacker group, called the Chaos Computer Club. Last Saturday the group published German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble’s fingerprints in their magazine.

Schaeubele’s prints were lifted from a drinking glass he used at a public debate.

The group is upset with Merkel over her support for increased use of biometric data.

German passports issued since November 2007 use a biometric computer chip that contains a copy of the owner’s fingerprints which can be used by immigration authorities for identification.

The Chaos Computer Club argues that a person’s fingerprints are a bad choice for identification purposes since they are easy to obtain and reproduce. The CCC’s website publishes a 12-point lesson for creating a fake set of fingerprints.

The CCC does not believe that fingerprints offer increased security benefits, but, rather, are being used to increase the surveillance of everyday citizens.

Source: Breitbart.com