Abdulaziz Hasanain
I went to a telecom company to get a SIM card. The representative asked me to put my finger on the fingerprinting machine. Nowadays, anyone who wants to get a new SIM card in the Kingdom needs to go through the fingerprinting verification procedure. If the fingerprints have been verified, the SIM card application will be approved. If not, the applicant will be asked to go to the Passport Agency or Civil Status Department to get his fingerprints verified.
Unfortunately, the system did not recognize my fingerprints and the employee refused to continue with the application and asked me to go to the relevant authority to have my fingerprints verified. Fingerprinting verification machines are available at malls as well. I went to one of those machines and tried to re-verify my fingerprints but to no avail. I believe many people like me have gone through this hassle as well.
Some claim that the machine refuses to recognize the applicant’s
fingerprints because the applicant might be an old man or suffers from certain chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension. This claim is scientifically untrue. Fingerprints do not change at all, regardless of whether the person suffers from certain medical conditions. They stays the same from cradle to grave.
When I went to the Civil Status Department to check my fingerprints, the employee told me there was nothing wrong with my fingerprints and I did not need to re-verify them because they were already saved in the system. I went to the passport agency in the Al-Rehab neighborhood of Jeddah and was told the same. What is the problem then?
Fingerprinting machines used by government agencies use advanced and sophisticated systems which might be very expensive while telecom companies use cheaper ones. That is the reason why this problem occurred.
In 1858, Sir William Herschel (1833-1917) recognized that fingerprints were unique and permanent. In 1892, Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911) proved that the fingerprint of any finger does not change throughout one’s entire life. Different studies have proven that even twins have different fingerprints and that the fingerprints of an embryo start to form at four months.
My fingerprints and the fingerprints of others do not match because the machines used by telecom companies are cheap, not because of old age or disease.
