Airport being on the cutting edge of anything would be greeted with gasps and roars of laughter.

But as a story in today's newspaper explains, the Airport is to be a testing ground for FastGate, a new form of immigration clearance that could revolutionise the way airport arrivals are conducted around the world.

Two-hundred Bermudians -- primarily business travellers -- will run their "smart cards'' through a slimline ATM style device and place their palms on a machine which then reads their geometry. If card and palm print match, the traveller has cleared Immigration. That means no more long lines and no more tedious filling in of forms; in other words, less time standing around.

On the whole that is good news. If the pilot programme works, it will be extended to about 2,000 frequent flyers and later to all Bermuda residents.

That should change arriving in Bermuda for good, and anyone who has returned to the Island after a holiday weekend or before Christmas will welcome that.

The machine will also tell Immigration if the person using the device is on the Stop List and doubtless if he or she is wanted for any kind of offence, either in Bermuda or elsewhere.

This could go a long way towards preventing terrorists or other serious criminals from entering the Island, but it does raise some concerns about privacy. It is not clear how much information will be kept on file or to what uses it will be put. It is true that the same information is kept in Immigration files, but it will not be so easily accessible.

It could be argued that this should not concern those who have nothing to hide, but it is another symbol of the loss of privacy which comes with the increasing advances in computer technology.

In that sense, it is much like the closed circuit television cameras which will soon be installed in Hamilton.

This newspaper supports the camera system because they should be a major asset in detecting and prosecuting crime. Their uses were graphically demonstrated in the case of James Bulger, the Liverpool toddler who was lured away by two other schoolboys and brutally murdered.

Should they be as useful here, then it is hard to argue against them.

Nonetheless, the actions of many people in Hamilton innocently minding their own business will now be captured on tape and this massive store of information could be open to abuse.

Those in authority in Bermuda should take every step to ensure that these technological advances are used for the good of the people and not to cause them problems or to create an atmosphere where "Big Brother'' knows all.