Blacklisted.

Outside the Juscelino Kubitschek Memorial Museum in Brasilia appeared a bold statement: Fingerprint the Yankees. In retaliation for a U.S. government decision to fingerprint and photograph some visitors to the United States, Brazil quickly implemented exactly the same measure on travelers from the North American Country.

Brazil's Foreign Ministry argued that reciprocity is a basic clement of foreign relations. One American Airlines pilot showed his displeasure by making an obscene gesture to Sao Paulo airport authorities--captured in his entry photo. The 52-year-old pilot was detained and fined nearly US$13,000 for his trouble.

The U.S. program is full of holes. Twenty-seven countries are exempt--mostly European countries whose residents don't need visas to travel to the United States on vacation. And the U.S. government expects to screen just 28 million of the 500 million visitors entering through 129 major air and seaports, and none of the thousands who enter illegally by other means. U.S. security experts, meanwhile, fret that there will never be enough budget or manpower to sift through the rising mound of collected data.

Brazil's wily attempt to add itself to the list of exempt countries fell short. It did, however, send an important message: U.S. citizens can expect the same treatment in Brazil as Brazilians face in the United States, no matter how meaningless the process seems for either country.