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FBI's New Eye Scan Database Raising Eyebrows
mattnyc99 writes "The FBI has confirmed to Popular Mechanics that it's not only adding palm prints to its criminal records, but preparing to balloon its repository of photos, which an agency official says 'could be the basis for our facial recognition.' It's all part of a new biometric software system that could store millions of iris scans within 10 years and has privacy advocates crying foul. Quoting: 'The FBI's Next Generation Identification (NGI) system, which could cost as much as $1 billion over its 10-year life cycle, will create an unprecedented database of biometric markers, such as facial images and iris scans. For criminal investigators, NGI could be as useful as DNA some day — a distinctive scar or a lopsided jaw line could mean the difference between a cold case and closed one. And for privacy watchdogs, it's a dual threat — seen as a step toward a police state, and a gold mine of personal data waiting to be plundered by cybercriminals.'"
There has never been a better time to invest in Ray-Ban!
The DMV and the US government already have my picture (passport). Why should I give a shit if the FBI has it or has access to it?
I think someone's been watching too many movies. Aren't modern day iris scanners bad for your eyes. Sending crazy bright light directly into a person's eye will obviously damage it if it's done enough times. So all that logging in every day at the government's secret lab stuff is pure science fiction. I think personally doing an iris scan once can destroy enough rods or whatever to make people complain. They shouldn't be using this system and expecting people to be scanned whenever they want them to be.
Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
> And for privacy watchdogs, it's a duel threat
I guess they really threw down the gauntlet, huh?
Now which weapon should I choose... rapier and/or dagger?
"Slow down, Cowboy! It has been 3 years, 7 months and 26 days since you last successfully posted a comment."
And for privacy watchdogs, it's a duel threat
En garde!
I support the Center for Consumer Freedom
how else would the scanner be able to read the eye?
Once they get a DNA database everyone, you'll have to leave the house wearing gloves and protective clothing so you don't accidentally leave DNA on someone who happens to get murdered later.
The iris scans seem benign to me. I'm not entirely sure how they would scan the insides of your eyeballs without your consent, at least for now. What concerns me is the facial scans. I have a feeling that this is more than just pictures like on a passport. I'm thinking more along the lines of a virtual model of one's physical features, possibly built from various images into a kind of 3-D composite. There are a few problems with this. One is that you could be mistaken for someone else (obviously). Another is that this would only work with a very sophisticated camera surveillance system, or what would be the point? So this could mean that the government is planning to really step up their surveillance program. And of course they'll give us the same bullshit about fighting violent crime and terrorism, and people will eat it up. And then there will be cameras everywhere, like in China. That's what really scares me about this.
The U.S. government and Popular Mechanics have been in bed together for quite some time now. Remember the desperate and failed attempt to debunk 9/11 conspiracy theories in one of their issues? It only generated more suspicion and exposed their tight relationship. This leaves me to believe that Popular Mechanics is probably glorifying this Police State tactic.
Popular Mechanics is garbage. It's for people who want to pretend to be smart.
Anybody notice the mention of Lockheed Martin in the original article?
Really? Is more outsourcing of sensitive government tasks the way to go? Have we learned nothing from experience...
They should use the politicians that control the agency, and the upper level bosses in the agency, as the first test subjects. Not that they have anything to hide, but I'm guessing they wouldn't like it in this case.
Well, what about the people with no eyeballs? OR HANDS?! OR FACES!? OR EVEN DNA?! You think criminals are dangerous, it's the criminal zombies you have to be really afraid of! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
"Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"
if I hadn't left an image of my retina at the crime scene!
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
Why do they need our Eye Scan Data? I do not leave my iris information at a crime scene. I do however leave my DNA and fingerprints. So what happens when the FBI DB gets hacked and some serial killer changes his Eye Scan with mine. The FBI has no way of knowing who is who. I know some of you may say that the FBI will also have pictures of me and witnesses etc. but it use to be that DNA was not trusted very much and now a person can be put away on DNA evidence alone, so it is all too soon till a person can be put a way or arrested just because their eye scan says they are someone they are not.
I smoked pot once. But I DID NOT inhale. Will you hire me?
Technology has been moving this way for decades. There is even an argument that it's been moving this way for centuries.
And so what? How much is this really going to effect us? Really? As things stand we have all our information stored by banks, hospitals, employers, and social networks. This is a natural progression.
Anyone who thinks governments wouldn't do this obviously didn't pay attention at school. They've been doing this since they came into existence.
This isn't going to result in a police state. Whats going on in Zimbabwe leads to a police state, not what we have here. All this is is a centralisation of information.
As for me, I don't care whether they want this info or not. And as for the cybercriminal thing, you believe your bank/hospital/employer is any safer? Seriously?
If this move would damn us, we've already been damned for some time.
Next up, world doesn't end when this happens.
A learning experience is one of those things that say, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.' - D. Adams
OK /.ers, if you're opposed to this, let's hear the alternatives. Describe a system that allows quickly tracking down criminals but protects personal privacy.
somehow the link did not come through... http://www.springerlink.com/content/32p6733743573016/
Look Into the Laser With Your REMAINING Eye.
The BIG problems with biometrics that rely on external facial features along with such things as facial bone structures is that they CAN be foxed rather easily by a good makeup artist as well as by plastic surgery.
Scars can be added - and removed - both by clever applications of makeup and/or plastic surgery. The set of a person's eyebrow ridge can similarly e altered (for the purpose of fooling scans) using either technology as well. So can the set of one's cheekbones, jawline or even the confirmation of the ears (another unique body feature, like the fingerprint).
Once again, the government goes down a path that is easily mucked up and that will produce highly questionable results.
Thanks again, Washington, for spending more of our money on eye scanners and less on things like flood control programs, bridge inspection teams and systems to keep our ports safe from maniacs who just might try to blow one of them higher than up!
Anybody notice the mention of Lockheed Martin in the original article?
Really? Is more outsourcing of sensitive government tasks the way to go? Have we learned nothing from experience...
The federal government outsources just about all of their sensitive science and engineering. Sandia National Lab is run by Lockheed Martin. LANL and LLNL are also run by contractors. Nothing new.
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
looks like all us "four-eyes" are going to have an extra modicum of privacy.
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
And this is ok on the face of it, but NOT the way these companies are being allowed to abuse it. Just because the abuse is ubiquitous doesn't mean it's ok.. that's like going back to the 1850's and arguing "slavery is the result of natural progression".
Oh it doesn't hurt you at all as long as you're a conformist lemming who "has nothing to fear because he's done nothing 'wrong'
as for other effects
How about shortening people's lives with nagging telemarketing or killing wide swaths of the rainforest? I receive more useless paper in the form of junk mail each week from companies who buy this abusively shared information than I have ever used in a given year as a double major.
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
ugh, eye hate these puns...
For those who would prefer not to wallow in self induced ignorance, (both of you), here's a few links you might find relevant. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_recognition http://www.findbiometrics.com/Pages/iris_articles/iris_1.html http://www.iridiantech.com/index2.php The rest of us may now return to mindless ranting. Enjoy!
After exhaustive research and excrutiating analysis, I've determined that Bubba is, in fact, everywhere.
Only if you're hanging around in the 19th century. With very few exceptions, examining the iris doesn't give you any information about illnesses (although it can certainly tell you about problems with the iris). Iridology lives on the trash heap of medical history these days. Aside from the fact that it makes no sense from a physiological perspective, it also simply fails on evidence.
As far as I'm concerned, anything that has no theory or data to back it up doesn't even approach the realm of medical fact.
An interesting anagram of "BANACH TARSKI" is "BANACH TARSKI BANACH TARSKI"
I saw Rectal Scanner. I wasn't at all surprised, just prayed there was still room in the budget for KY!
It'll go a little further than last time. Rights are being lost a little bit at a time.
You can measure how good a country is by how much they ADVANCE freedom and RAISE the MEDIAN standard of living. By this measure the US is a very crappy country and getting crappier. You've become a global embarrassment to your former friends and liability to freedom everywhere.
I canceled my own trip to the US and went to Cuba instead. At least their citizens realize they live in a police state, there may be hope for them.
Unfortunately at this point in North America all you can do is wait for enough idiots to clue in to the rise of the new fascism.
When your founding fathers organized terrorist resistance they did not have to deal with flying robotic combat drones attacking them. Lets hope that when you finally have no choice but to open your eyes that it will still be possible to mount a meaningful resistance.
To put it in perspective, for less than 100 years we've had the technology in place so that most people in North America can eat until they get full. The majority of your population are killing themselves with this simple non-offensive technology because they are not able to control their own actions and won't stop feeding their face. Now you want to give the technology to control and monitor every aspect of people's lives to these same fat stupid apes?
Global corporate serfdom is what's at stake here and they are winning.
The federal government outsources just about all of their sensitive science and engineering. Sandia National Lab is run by Lockheed Martin. LANL and LLNL are also run by contractors.
And that's why it's called the "military-industrial complex"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military-industrial_complex
President Eisenhower popularized the phrase, but it's an old concept.
Apparently even the fascists worried about the MIC.
Nothing new.
Well... the GP is obviously new here
(no really, he is)
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
They can't keep a database of ballistic fingerprints of every handgun being sold. This would actually be useful with technology that is 20+ years old and could eliminate the lottery that law enforcement currently faces when they turn up a suspicious handgun.