Anyone who has recently travelled to the United States will be familiar with biometric checks – facial and fingerprint scans – used at the border.

It is the same technology platform that is used in airports elsewhere in the world. New Zealand’s passports, for instance, are among those that now carry encrypted biometric information, matched to a traveller’s face as they pass through border smart gates.

Because the data is used for a specific purpose and remains tightly controlled by the countries that hold it, these advanced systems have been relatively uncontroversial.

But that could change. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is now requiring countries including New Zealand to enter a new arrangement – known as an Enhanced Border Security Partnership – as a condition of keeping visa-free travel to America.

Countries that do not sign on risk losing that access, placing them under pressure to agree despite unresolved questions.

Documents released by the DHS suggest the arrangement could involve direct access to other countries’ government databases, including law enforcement and biometric data – raising serious........

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