In Holland, a novel way to prevent known hooligans from entering football stadiums looks set to get the green light from the Dutch Football Association, the KNVB.

The KNVB has sanctioned a new fingerprint app, developed by security firm G4S, and uses GPS technology to track hooligans based on their locations and their fingerprints, whilst those monitoring the app want to know is whether or not these hooligans are near football stadiums.

The banned fan has a mobile device, puts his thumb on the scanner, and the GPS tracker logs the location. The fan will then have to check in before, during and after the game to show that he is nowhere near the stadium.

Currently, those serving bans from football stadiums in the Netherlands are required to report to their local police station on matchdays, but at two Dutch clubs, RKC Waalwijk and NEC, the new technology has been tested already.

Hooligans were given shorter bans in return for agreeing to take part in the trial, which – according to Dutch broadcaster NOS (via English language site, Dutch News) was a success.

A new initiative like this one doesn’t come without its share of criticism, however. There are serious questions for the authorities to answer, especially in this age of privacy. What happens to that biometric data? Who has access to it? How is it secured?

In an age of ever-increasing digitalisation of personal information – in this case, biometric information – we can’t simply shrug off questions like these. Over the next years, given the rise of augmented reality, the normalisation of social media and the fact that it isn’t just governments and authorities who have the ability to track personal information, but also companies who can use that data for marketing purposes, these questions will only get more important.