Minority Report Style Iris Scanners In Mexico

TheRealPacmanJones writes "Biometrics R&D firm Global Rainmakers Inc. (GRI) announced today that it is rolling out its iris scanning technology to create what it calls 'the most secure city in the world.' In a partnership with Leon, one of the largest cities in Mexico with a population of more than a million, GRI will fill the city with eye-scanners. The scanners will help revolutionize law enforcement not to mention marketing."

Comments

Phooey.

[ScrewMaster]

I hate it when filmmakers are just a little too prophetic.

Re:Phooey.

[Monkeedude1212]

To quote one of my favourite movies,

"Boy, do I hate being right all the time!"

Re:Phooey.

[stonewallred]

Screw that, I am buying stock in the wrap around mirror shades companies. More scanners will result in more sales, until the governments mandate you must not hide your eyes. How about colored contacts or non colored contacts with just enough distortion to screw the sensors?

Re:Phooey.

[MRe_nl]

"I had a guaranteed Mexican sale with ED209! Renovation program! Spare parts for 25 years! Who cares if it worked or not"!

Re:Phooey.

[nurb432]

Soooo, you don't watch SCIFI shows much do you? That's what they are all about.

Re:Phooey.

[ScrewMaster]

Soooo, you don't watch SCIFI shows much do you? That's what they are all about.

Actually, I do, and I read even more. But that's irrelevant. Not everything that you read or see that purports to be "science" fiction is likely to occur, ever will occur, or is even possible in the first place. For that matter, much good sci-fi has nothing whatsoever to do with what is likely to happen to us (humanity, I mean.)

Sometimes they get lucky, though, and hit closer to home than we would like. That's not generally by accident: a good sci-fi author keeps up with his science, stays abreast of recent developments, and does his best to project forward along the curve of progress, and make a reasonable prediction. If you can't do that, if you simply make up stuff that sounds cool, well, odds are you aren't writing science-fiction.

I'd be very surprised if the folks responsible for Minority Report hadn't done their due diligence, spent some time getting familiar with the then-current state-of-the art. They then applied that knowledge to make an informed guess as to how the future might pan out. It looks like they weren't that far off the mark in this particular case.

Like I said, sometimes they get lucky. If this technology works as well as is claimed (and I have my doubts about that) this is one of those times.

Re:Phooey.

[turbotroll]

I hate it when filmmakers are just a little too prophetic.

The purpose of science fiction is not to predict the future, but warn about it.

Re:Phooey.

[tepples]

More scanners will result in more sales, until the governments mandate you must not hide your eyes.

It wouldn't be too far removed from France's burqa ban.

Re:Phooey.

[allaunjsilverfox2]

As far as being the most secure city on earth? That just sounds like a planetary challenge. I mean, what kind of idiot politician still says stuff like this? Can you imagine what would happen if there was a contest to test this "security" of theirs? Not to mention the fact it sounds more a hollow threat. Especially in light of the glaring drug problems the country is experiencing. Security is only as good as the human running it. And NO country is immune to corruption.

Re:Phooey.

[ScrewMaster]

I hate it when filmmakers are just a little too prophetic.

The purpose of science fiction is not to predict the future, but warn about it.

That's only one of many things that science fiction can do. Not all sci-fi writers are trying to warn us about something. Not all even have anything particularly important to say. Heck, a fantasy novel can warn about the future ... it's just that if the storyline is based around real science, well, it's much more plausible.

Re:Phooey.

[Jedi Alec]

Says who? Insofar as science fiction can be said to have a purpose at all, it seems to boil down to "take the human race and inject really spiffy technology, aliens and other assorted funkiness. Shake for 5 seconds and wrap a storyline around what happens".

Re:Phooey.

[richlv]

passing a sensor check against a central db would be required to enter any govt building at first (hospitals etc). then it will migrate to pubs. then "fake eyes" will start appearing.
then districts will be separated with scanners that you must pass to move from to another, then, in some locations, this will change down to block level or even house level.

Re:Phooey.

[Dorkmaster Flek]

"God creates dinosaurs; God destroys dinosaurs; God creates Man; Man destroys God; Man creates dinosaurs."

"...Dinosaurs eat Man; Woman inherits the Earth."

Re:Phooey.

[Grizzley9]

"Boy, do I hate being right all the time! - Dr. Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park" - Michael Scott

Now you can identify me

[Anonymous Coward]

Next time I post from an Internet Cafe in Leon, someone will know who I really am.

-A. Coward

Oookay.

[Securityemo]

So now it will be illegal to wear sunglasses in Mexico?

Re:Oookay.

[Maxo-Texas]

Sunglasses and spray paint as the new hot selling items.

Re:Oookay.

[Nerdfest]

Most iris recognition uses the infra-red spectrum, so sunglasses won't help unless they block those frequencies.

Re:Oookay.

[Securityemo]

You could tape a grid of thin aluminium stripes across the back of a darker pair? It would probably hold up to casual inspection.

Re:Oookay.

[numbski]

Personally, I wear my sunglasses at night. So I can see.

Re:Oookay.

[Raenex]

...the light.

Re:Oookay.

[chihowa]

Or wear sunglasses that are made of... glass. (opaque to IR)

Re:Oookay.

[Securityemo]

*facepalm*

Secure?

[WrongSizeGlass]

'the most secure city in the world.'

Not if you live, work or visit there. They need basic protections from drug gangs and their corrupt government, military and police. They don't need these scanners, they need millions of bullet proof vests.

Re:Secure?

[couchslug]

They need an effective police state, and a Pinochet, a Franco, or other ruler who has enough leverage to kill anyone who is a threat to good citizens.

There is a point where the strictly limited and extremely restrained legalistic ways which are practical in stable countries do not work.

War, not law, is then necessary to kill and destroy the enemies of the people. Mexico is a failed state, and the way to put those in order is to give orders, enforce them with force, and ensure the narco-warlords are killed so they cannot operate from prison.

In the US, by comparison, we have trivial crime rates, pampered lives, and are so comfortable we cannot even understand such situations.

Re:Secure?

[Nethead]

Oh, we understand the concept. Look what happened to Iraq when we overthrew Saddam. We broke it, we bought it.

Re:Secure?

[Anonymous Coward]

It seems every country under the thumb of the Holy Roman Church is a corrupt shithole.

Re:Secure?

[stonewallred]

Hmm, that logic could easily be extended to our efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and even with Islam in total. Somebody alert Beck that we have a solution to our problems, kill them all and let the invisible sky wizard of your own choosing sort them out.

Re:Secure?

[mangu]

They need basic protections from drug gangs and their corrupt government, military and police

They need their big rich neighbor in the North to decriminalize recreational drugs.

Chicago was also a violent and corrupt city when the recreational use of ethanol was unconstitutional.

Re:Secure?

[turbotroll]

They need an effective police state, and a Pinochet, a Franco, or other ruler who has enough leverage to kill anyone who is a threat to good citizens.

There is a point where the strictly limited and extremely restrained legalistic ways which are practical in stable countries do not work.

War, not law, is then necessary to kill and destroy the enemies of the people. Mexico is a failed state, and the way to put those in order is to give orders, enforce them with force, and ensure the narco-warlords are killed so they cannot operate from prison.

In the US, by comparison, we have trivial crime rates, pampered lives, and are so comfortable we cannot even understand such situations.

I am glad that someone wrote this openly. The only way to fight the most dangerous and unrepentant criminals is to kill them.

However, I fear that some politically correct idiots will mod you down...

Re:Secure?

[Balthisar]

Actually, Leon isn't a drug lord infested stink hole like some other parts of Mexico. It's slogan was (until recently) "The best city for living in!" And it's really kind of true. The state that it's in was one of the first to throw off the shackles of the ruling PRI (you know, they guys that never gave up power after the Mexican revolution), and it progressed as a result. The previous president of Mexico (Fox, the first non-PRI president in those 71 years) was from the outskirts of Leon. Their public transportation (non-subway) system is a model for the world, and it's being adopted for many parts of Mexico City (where I currently live, and is a shithole, even the "exclusive" neighborhood where corporate housing has me). Potable water, good infrastructure, lots of various industry, a very good, middle-class standard of living, and less-than-average corruption in their police force.

Generally speaking, Leon is /already/ one of the safest cities in Mexico.

I go to Leon quite extensively, and so the iris scanner thing actually kind of gives me the heebie-jeebies.

Re:Secure?

[Anonymous Coward]

They need the United States to legalize, and produce locally, the drugs that the gangs depend on for their income, RIGHT NOW, so that someday in the far-flung future their great-grandkids can grow up without violent organized crime everywhere.

No exports to U.S. = no money.
No money = existing drug gangs finally wither away sixty or seventy years from now (based on how long it took the Mob to collapse after prohibition ended).

Re:Secure?

[fafalone]

They need to take the vast majority of the money away from the cartels. No profit removes the incentive for violence and the ability to corrupt large portions of the government. Too bad that "sends the wrong message". God forbid the people getting high illegally now be able to do it legally, and receive treatment instead of a record leaving no other path than crime. (No, there's no evidence legalization means more addiction, see the Netherlands and Portugal).

Re:Secure?

[Anonymous Coward]

I feel like it's redundant to point out examples of the kind of thing you're talking about since you already mentioned Pinochet or Franco. Nevertheless, I'm going to point out that what you're talking about is exactly what the Taliban were, and look how well they worked out!

How about, instead of giving up on Mexico as a failed state, give up on drug prohibition as a failed policy. Prohibition of things that people simply are not going to stop paying for just doesn't work. Didn't work for alchohol. The human cost was horrible. It doesn't work for prostitution. There all it does is create a class of professionals who are constantly the victims of felonies (violence, robbery, rape, enslavement, etc.) because they're committing misdemeanors and they pretty accurately perceive that if they go to the police with a complaint, they'll be prosecuted for their lesser crimes as low-hanging fruit while those who victimize them largely get away with it. It doesn't work with gambling. One of my sisters exes is a poker addict (he's convinced he can make a living at it because, in his head, he counts his profits when he wins, but never his losses) who apparently plays in some vice den where a good quarter of the patrons are police officers. He doesn't play in the state-licensed gambling establishments because they're frankly more exploitive than the sleazy vice den. The state controls gambling, theoretically to protect people from its dangers, and yet is addicted enough to the revenues that it runs ad campaigns trying to get more people to play the lottery. Drug prohibition has turned large parts of the world into war zones. Meanwhile, the actual supply hasn't been stemmed at all. As stupid as many may have found Nancy Reagan's "Just say no!" policy, it's probably the only part of the drug war that's even been remotely effective. They should just drop prohibition and shift all that effort into proper education. That would never fly in the US, of course, where the CYA principle is so firmly entrenched that stupid stuff like abstinence-only can be substituted in for sensible sex-ed. Any drug education would be similarly neutered crap. What kids need is realistic information on what the effects and dangers of various drugs are, instead they get macho crap from some D.A.R.E. officer telling them they'd better stay of drugs or they'll get busted and then end up being raped in prison.

If the US and other major drug importing nations dropped prohibition and growing the drugs became a legal industry in Mexico, the drug gangs wouldn't vanish overnight. To start with, they'd probably try to keep their control over the drug industry, essentially running protection rackets on farmers producing the drugs. Over time, with the farmers no longer having anything to fear from law enforcement, plus everyone slowly realizing that there's now no effective difference between a cocaine producer and a lima bean producer, and that the money just isn't there in drugs anymore, their concentration in that industry should fade away and their members would probably move on to all kinds of other crime or maybe even legit jobs in some cases. Anyway, it would probably take decades for all the damage and corruption to fade away, but it's a better solution than some all out war that creates "peace" and "order" while filling quiet mass graves in the hills.

Re:Secure?

[geekoid]

Not really. IN fact, most crime dropped, and domestic crime just about disappeared.

Criminal on criminal violence amongst rival importers was bad. However, even when it wasn't bad it would be put on headlines and twisted to seem worse.

My thought was that the papers didn't like the sever drop in revenue from the alcohol ad loss.

At least then the criminal had the decency to try and keep it among themselves.

Re:Secure?

[couchslug]

Which is why we should have left it alone. Iraq was contained (containment is considered acceptable for vastly worse North Korea), and stable.

Invading Iraq merely drained our Treasury and damaged our economy with the only useful outcome being the continuation of the petrodollar.

Re:Secure?

[h4rr4r]

I am too, free speech lets me easily identify sociopaths and general nutcases I don't want to be around quite often.

Re:Secure?

[couchslug]

The Taliban are suitable to Afghanistan, and ideally adapted to maintain order among other primitive people. Don't forget that religion IS suitable to primitives which is why it preceded more enlightened ideas. Their only objectionable act was providing basing for Al Qaeda to use against the US.

As for Franco, he saved Spain from Stalinism and again from involvement in WWII. He did a fine job killing Communists, which was the way one had to deal with them at the time. Pinochet also dealt effectively with Marxists, though he didn't use much violence in comparison to Franco.

Both the Franco and Pinochet regimes were replaced by more relaxed regimes after their "missions" were accomplished.

Re:Secure?

[couchslug]

Catholicism is compatible with degenerate local beliefs, which is why it thrives in backward areas and why it is recruiting in the Third World even as it loses parishes in modern countries.

Note the amusing mixture of Catholicism and local religions throughout Latin America.

Re:Secure?

[couchslug]

That is not remotely practical.

That kind of social cleansing MUST come from a motivated indigenous movement, able to penetrate all levels of society, act in detail, and persist to secure the results.

Re:Secure?

[turbotroll]

I am too, free speech lets me easily identify sociopaths and general nutcases I don't want to be around quite often.

Who are sociopaths and general nutcases? Those who are aware of the reality, in which gang leaders run their gangs even while incarcerated? In which the worst criminals corrupt the judges and jurors and laugh in the face of their victims, the honest citizens, and the justice system?

Yeah, shoot the sociopathic messenger, who is a general nutcase...

Re:Secure?

[Requiem18th]

Couldn't you be honest and simply demand all of our oil for free?

Re:Secure?

[mangamuscle]

Ha, "primitive religion", you talk as if there really are "high-tech" religions, ALL religions have faith as their path to enlightment. There was a transition from Franco into democracy by sheer luck, ETA killed the only person he trusted to inherit absolute power over Spain. Look what is happening right now in Cuba, if Fidel Castro kicks the bucket their totalitarian regime will continue on an on.

Re:Secure?

[victorhooi]

heya,

I see this scenario paraded about a lot by the "legalise drugs" crowd. The thing is, if you suddenly make drugs legal, firstly, as you pointed out, things won't change right away.

Secondly however, all those people who do nasty illegal things for drugs (either the producers or the users) aren't suddently going to go away either.

The thing is, a drug warlord is, well...err...a criminal? it's not like they're suddenly going to get up one day and thing, gee, drugs aren't illegal anymore, well, I'm done a lot of killing people and bribing cops, but I think I'm going to go be a schoolteacher or a nurse now.

At the end of the day, a criminal is a criminal. Take Al Capone - sure, he dealt in alcohol, but if there wasn't prohibition, I'm sure he would have done something else.I mean, he was expelled from school at 14, and got mentored by gangster Johnny Torrio as a kid. He committed petty theft, racketeering, assault etc, all as a kid.

Think about it - the people who are drug lords are probably the same. They lie, cheat, steal and hurt people. It's their personality, it's got nothing to do with the drugs. Trust me, they'll find something else.

Drug prohibition hasn't turned large parts of the world into war zones - those places were already cesspits of other crimes, like prostitution, human trafficking, people smuggling, theft, robbery etc.

And the users - well, addiction is part of them as well. It's something they can address sure, but if they don't, well, they'll just get addicted to something else. Here in Australia, if you take away the drugs, they go for alcohol, take away that, they go for petrol sniffing, take that away, they go for whiteout (seriously), methylated spirits (?), or whatever else they can get their hands on.

Now, personally, I think recreational drug users are pretty stupid. You're wasting vast tracts of money on things that really only damage you. They don't make you faster, or smarter

Likewise I don't drink, but once again, that's just a personal opinion. For myself, I think it's silly - it messes up your judgement and I've been at two many office parties where somebody who'd had a bit too much opened their mouth a little too wide. I say enough stupid things as it is. That, and with my family history, going down that path ain't smart.

All this c*ap about "safe levels" is absurd - you're inbibing a psycho-active substance, the only real "safe" level that doesn't affect you is none. I mean, if it didn't have a psycho-active effect, would you even really be taking it?

Cheers,
Victor

Re:Secure?

[microbox]

However, I fear that some politically correct idiots will mod you down...

So... you think you can just dominate problems away. Interesting. Say - you wouldn't be one of those conservatives you thinks that liberals are just a bunch of control freaks, would you?

Re:Secure?

[Titoxd]

Vicente Fox, the first non-PRI president in recent Mexican history (and the same dude that the GP alluded to) just said the same thing you just said.

Re:Secure?

[im_dan]

First thing I'd like to say is, I am part of the legalise drugs crowd, and I'm coincidentally Australian as well. The only drugs I use are already legal (alcohol).
You have made the best case I've heard for why drugs should remain illegal. However my biggest argument for legalising all drugs is that "prostitution, human trafficking, people smuggling" will be virtually eliminated when there is no drug money to fund these activities.
The other argument I have is the money received through taxation would allow for a truly world class rehabilitation program, although I'm cynical enough to know the government will find the best possible way to piss it away on a $900 giveaway or overpriced school sheds, I would hope this can bring so real relief to not just indigenous communities but all drug addicts
The last and most important point is that, drugs are exactly as you describe expensive and destructive, but if somebody is foolish enough to use, I would rather the profits don't go to criminals

Re:Secure?

[Nethead]

Don't forget the Military Industrial Complex, gotta keep that chuggin' away.

Somehow I think that overthrowing North Korea would be more like trying to overthrow Scientology. That country is going to need some heavy counseling when it wakes up from it's bad dream.

Re:Secure?

[mrogers]

Potable water, good infrastructure, lots of various industry, a very good, middle-class standard of living, and less-than-average corruption in their police force.

This makes me wonder whether the scanners should be installed in Ciudad Juarez instead - because if you want to know whether technology like this would be dangerous in the hands of a corrupt government, that's the place to find out.

Re:Secure?

[richlv]

trivial crime rates and large part of population in prisons. it's a bit sad that you have to compare world's most advanced country to the one that can't really hold together on its own ;)

Re:Secure?

[Mr2cents]

> All this c*ap about "safe levels" is absurd - you're inbibing a psycho-active substance, the only real "safe" level that doesn't affect you is none. I mean, if it didn't have a psycho-active effect, would you even really be taking it?

100% wrong. You are confusing the terms "safe" and "active". It's the same as with medicine: you can overdose on medication too, but that doesn't imply that there can't be safe levels. The psycho-active effects are the WHOLE POINT of taking drugs.

Re:Secure?

[happyfeet2000]

After throwing the PRI out, PAN, a conservative party, took over. A fundamentalist sector of which, El Yunque, is the one calling the shots in the state. An example of the type of society they have in mind is the sentencing of Araceli Camargo to 26 years of prision for an spontaneous abortion when she was 18 yers old after a very unfair and corrupt filled trial. The punishment for abortion in this state is 3 years in prision, in order to increase the penalty she was accused of murdering a relative. The fiscal attorney had all the support from the government, so no chance she would walk away free. If you read the records of the process you'll find every dirty trick on the book. 30 more ladies have already been sentenced to similar terms, and 166 more are waiting for the trial, if you can call this medieval farce a trial. Now imagine giving this kind of government total power over your privacy...shudder...

Price of Sunglasses and colored cotacts way up

[h4rr4r]

Time to buy stock in sunglass and colored contact manufacturers.

Re:Price of Sunglasses and colored cotacts way up

[mjwx]

Time to buy stock in sunglass and colored contact manufacturers.

Scott: Go on through agent, the scanner can read blood vessel patterns right through your sunglasses.

what a joke

[Schlemphfer]

Mexico is a failed state well on its way to anarchy. This is a country that can't even keep its police chiefs from getting assassinated by drug cartel thugs, and they think iris scanners are going to make a damned bit of difference? Give me a break.

Re:what a joke

[losttoy]

Here's how iris scanners can help fend off an attack. When attacked: 1. Throw an iris scanner real hard at the attacker. Don't worry if you miss, there are plenty more around you. 2. Offer an iris scanner to the attacker (should sell well on ebay) 3. Point iris scanner at the attacker and threaten to vapourize them. 4. Quickly hack into the iris database, delete attacker's identity. This will lead the attacker to question his existence and the attacker will simply implode. 5. Run! of course, iris scanner plays no role here.

Re:what a joke

[c0lo]

and they think iris scanners are going to make a damned bit of difference?

Yes, they are going to make a difference! For the official(s) that took the bribe to push this ahead and for the company providing the scanners. How big the difference ? For certain, more than a bit, but I can't say how big.

Re:what a joke

[ScrewMaster]

Much the same may be said of the United States. Out of seven major signs of being a third world country with a first world public image, it is exhibiting seven.

Uh, what? A superpower in decline is NOT the same thing as a third world country. Not yet, anyways

My girlfriend is from the real third world (she emigrated to the U.S. many years ago) ... she could tell you how full of crap you are.

Re:what a joke

[turbotroll]

Much the same may be said of the United States. Out of seven major signs of being a third world country with a first world public image, it is exhibiting seven.

An obligatory link: 10 Signs The U.S. is Becoming a Third World Country

Re:what a joke

[Anonymous Coward]

Mexico is a failed state well on its way to anarchy. This is a country that can't even keep its police chiefs from getting assassinated by drug cartel thugs, and they think iris scanners are going to make a damned bit of difference? Give me a break.

Please, remeber that you shouldn't speak in general. There are issues down here. There were issues also in in the USA
  Instead of bringing your offensive un-constructive cmments why don't you get back to work?
Or better yet, come down here and lets see what youcan do about the problem.
~Chilango, your daddy.

Re:what a joke

[turbotroll]

Mexico is a failed state well on its way to anarchy. This is a country that can't even keep its police chiefs from getting assassinated by drug cartel thugs, and they think iris scanners are going to make a damned bit of difference? Give me a break.

This comment fully deserves a +5 score, but why is it modded as "Funny"? This is not funny, it's the tragic truth of Mexico's brutal reality.

Re:what a joke

[Penguinisto]

Much the same may be said of the United States.

I'm guessing that you've never really lived in, or even visited, a real third-world country - at least not outside of the usual tourist areas.

If you had, you'd know that the stereotypical boutique comparison you're trolling is more often than not fueled by people who either:

* have a specific (radical/fascist/Utopian/bullshit) agenda to "fix" the "problems".
-or-
* want attention badly - usually for monetary gain, power, and/or notoriety (see also cable news commentators, talk radio hosts, bloggers, the not-so-intelligent politicians among us, et al).
-or-
* desperately want to look like an iconoclastic philosopher in order to get laid at college parties.

/P

Re:what a joke

[Drakkenmensch]

It WILL make a difference. Within a week, all the druglords will be able to track day and night the locations of the judges and uncorrupted politicians they had been unable to murder until now. Mob rule starts in 3, 2, 1...

Re:what a joke

[richlv]

5. drop the iris scanner you planned to throw at the attacker next so you can run faster. for bonus points look at it for a moment, then scream "zomg, it's gonna BLOW UP" before dropping it.

Luckily....

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

I'm sure that "Global Rainmakers Inc."(Seriously, could you have come up with something creepier?) have a foolproof plan for making sure that half the people involved aren't on one or more cartel payrolls, using the systems for tracking and assassinations, before the hardware is even in the field...

Re:Luckily....

[DriedClexler]

You beat me to it. "Secure" and "large city in the middle of a corruption-laden drug war" simply do not go together.

Re:Luckily....

[vux984]

"Global Rainmakers Inc."

What we need in response is clearly:

"Umbrella Corporation"

What could possibly go wrong? ;)

Re:Luckily....

[Balthisar]

Leon isn't in the drug war. Not that that can't change. What do you hear on the news? Acapulco (and that's new), Monterey, Nuevo Laredo, Cd. Juarez, Michoacan (the state), Sinaloa (the state). Guanajauto (the state that Leon is in) isn't part of that mess (nor is most of the country). In fact, it's a major tourist destination (the state, not Leon), and has a ginormous American ex-pat population. Drugs = ports and the US border.

Minority report?

[Hatta]

The movie I think of when I hear about retina scanners is Demolition Man.

Re:Minority report?

[Neil Boekend]

I thought Minority Report. The adds (when he had his eyes switched) were quite clear: the data will become available to all.

Oh my

[Anonymous Coward]

Perhaps the scanners will have a bribe slot for currency?

I think I can speak for all of us when I say

[$RANDOMLUSER]

"In the future, whether it's entering your home, opening your car, entering your workspace, getting a pharmacy prescription refilled, or having your medical records pulled up, everything will come off that unique key that is your iris," says Jeff Carter, CDO of Global Rainmakers. Before coming to GRI, Carter headed a think tank partnership between Bank of America, Harvard, and MIT. "Every person, place, and thing on this planet will be connected [to the iris system] within the next 10 years," he says.

BURN IN HELL, MOTHERFUCKER!

Re:I think I can speak for all of us when I say

[MichaelSmith]

"In the future, whether it's entering your home, opening your car, entering your workspace, getting a pharmacy prescription refilled, or having your medical records pulled up, everything will come off that unique key that is your iris," says Jeff Carter, CDO of Global Rainmakers. Before coming to GRI, Carter headed a think tank partnership between Bank of America, Harvard, and MIT. "Every person, place, and thing on this planet will be connected [to the iris system] within the next 10 years," he says.

BURN IN HELL, MOTHERFUCKER!

Well thats his view, and he is a salesman after all. But I wonder about how unique retinas are anyway, and how reproducible retina scanning will be in the long term?

Re:I think I can speak for all of us when I say

[$RANDOMLUSER]

The particular technology doesn't matter. Do you really want to live in a world where every time you "enter your home, your car, your workspace, get a prescription filled, etc.", it's recorder in a database? Do you want "every person, place and thing on this planet" (these are his quotes, not mine) recorded? TFA goes on with quotes from him tracking movements (truckers to start) and extolling the complete loss of privacy for everyone "on the planet". I say we start by tracking this miserable salesfuck and his family 24x7 and publishing it, see how wonderful he thinks it is.

Re:I think I can speak for all of us when I say

[straponego]

I wonder why they think giving people more justifications for violence will eliminate violence.

Re:I think I can speak for all of us when I say

[ScrewMaster]

"In the future, whether it's entering your home, opening your car, entering your workspace, getting a pharmacy prescription refilled, or having your medical records pulled up, everything will come off that unique key that is your iris," says Jeff Carter, CDO of Global Rainmakers. Before coming to GRI, Carter headed a think tank partnership between Bank of America, Harvard, and MIT. "Every person, place, and thing on this planet will be connected [to the iris system] within the next 10 years," he says.

BURN IN HELL, MOTHERFUCKER!

Personally, I think that a lot of this crap would just STOP if medical science would find a penis enlargement pill that actually works. Frankly, I think there are a lot of men in government and the private sector that are seriously underendowed, and have to compensate by fucking over the rest of us, as if it's our fault that Nature dealt them a ding instead of a dong.

Re:I think I can speak for all of us when I say

[sgage]

I'm with $RANDOMLUSER.

This is evil, pure and simple.

Re:I think I can speak for all of us when I say

[TheNarrator]

"In the future, whether it's entering your home, opening your car, entering your workspace, getting a pharmacy prescription refilled, or having your medical records pulled up, everything will come off that unique key that is your iris," says Jeff Carter, CDO of Global Rainmakers. Before coming to GRI, Carter headed a think tank partnership between Bank of America, Harvard, and MIT. "Every person, place, and thing on this planet will be connected [to the iris system] within the next 10 years," he says.

But wait there's more, It will also be the lower 64 bits of your ipv6 address whenever you do anything online. You don't think we made 128 bits of Ip space and wasted all that bandwidth for nothing, do you?

Re:I think I can speak for all of us when I say

[Securityemo]

Why is this "evil", per se? What are the horrible consequences of "we-can-measure-the-arc-of-his-piss" mass surveillance that you foresee?

Re:I think I can speak for all of us when I say

[shadowofwind]

Unfortunately, you speak for some of us, but not for all of us. Technology geeks develop this shit.

Re:I think I can speak for all of us when I say

[chord.wav]

So unabomber was right after all uh?

For the record, I don't approve his methods. But his manifesto is a good read.

Re:I think I can speak for all of us when I say

[feepness]

Do you really want to live in a world where every time you "enter your home, your car, your workspace, get a prescription filled, etc.", it's recorder in a database?

Sure. I like being marketed to with things I want and not with things I could care less about.

Do you want "every person, place and thing on this planet" (these are his quotes, not mine) recorded?

Absolutely not if they don't want it.

Re:I think I can speak for all of us when I say

[Godskitchen]

Subtract 26 from the current year and then read it.

Re:Hide Your Eyes

[reoiv]

Have they tested this with someone printing contacts with iris patterns from famous people or other people in general?

If anything it could be even easier to fake your identity. Just set up an iris scanner next to a real one. Then download all the iris patterns you like until you find one that works best. Print out a set of contacts with that iris pattern on them and walk through security....

I would have gone with...

[jtownatpunk.net]

I would have gone with a Barb Wire reference. Gun's version of Word Up playing in my head...

IRIS patents run out ?

[johnjones]

when do the patents on IRIS recognition run out ?

I think its soon...

or now...

regards

John Jones

Well

[ignuss]

I actually live in León, and I haven't heard anything about this (not ads, not rumours, nothing). So yeah, I kind of find the note somewhat not-believable. And for the guy that said that México is in its way to anarchy, lol @ you.

Re:Well

[Chewbacon]

I'm guessing he's never been to Mexico and therefore is the expert in his own mind for the matter. And Gizmodo? That shit bunch of bloggers? They do journalism half-assed at best when they remember to bring their check books.

Re:Well

[MidnightBrewer]

This article strikes me as a bit far-fetched. I'm curious to see if there's any news of this going anywhere in the future.

BTW, the GRI website is under the confusing name of hoyosgroup.com, and seems a bit fishy. No actual photos of staff (just generic clipart-ish silhouettes), and their claims of being able to capture a person's iris at over fifty feet moving at 1.5m/sec? Really? What kind of camera do they use for that? Just sayin'.

Re:Well

[Kyusaku Natsume]

Good for you!!

Actually, León was the thing that made me make the horrible mistake for voting for Fox in 2000. Is a really nice city, if they got rid of the Christian Taliban theocrats that rule the state and Leon's bishop León by far would be one of the best cities of the whole country. About the comment that the country is going down in to anarchy, for northern Mexico it is awfully true.

Which film?

[mangu]

One film that showed how to circumvent this was "Demolition Man", where the character played by Wesley Snipes uses an eyeball torn off a doctor to open a door.

Are there any other films using the same idea? It seems pretty obvious to me.

Re:Which film?

[stonewallred]

Said you can't in TFA. Eye loses blood pressure and screws up reading. Now wonder if surgery could alter the amount of pressure enough to screw scanner, while preserving vision? Maybe an ophthalmologist reads /. and can answer?

Re:Which film?

[mangu]

Eye loses blood pressure and screws up reading

Then maybe that's why Simon Phoenix stuck the eyeball on a fountain pen in that film. He could use ink pressure to compensate for blood pressure loss.

And he's wrong.

[Securityemo]

The reality of implementing systems like this will probably be more along the lines of Ghost in the Shell than Minority Report. People are corrupt (this is Mexico we're talking about, I assume you *have* to be corrupt and use "unofficial channels" to get anything useful done there.) And systems get hacked, of course, but fixed hardware systems like this can be locked down pretty tight. Not only that, but the system looks small enough to be put inside a hand-held unit; if this technology becomes as cheap and efficient as this article promises, you won't need to tap the scanners themselves - just put up your own hidden ones over a large area, and have them transmit wirelessly. Just like skimming.

Well, at least

[ITBurnout]

if a Mexican guy walks past one and it says something like "Good afternoon, Mr. Yakamoto," you'll know to stay the hell away from him.

Re:Adverse selection already counted on

[$RANDOMLUSER]

"If you're not doing anything wrong, then you have nothing to hide or fear; isn't that true, citizen?"

FTFA

[twright0]

FTFA:

...why would any law-abiding resident ever volunteer to scan their irises into a public database, and sacrifice their privacy? GRI hopes that the immediate value the system creates will alleviate any concern... And he has a warning for those thinking of opting out: "When you get masses of people opting-in, opting out does not help. Opting out actually puts more of a flag on you than just being part of the system. We believe everyone will opt-in."

If you're a law-abiding citizen, you have nothing to hide, and thus couldn't possibly object.

what the FUCK

Re:FTFA

[smurfsurf]

Exactly my thoughts. The whole thing is bat-shit crazy-scary. The rationalization put forward by these people is unbelievable.

"The banks already know more about what we do in our daily life--they know what we eat, where we go, what we purchase--our deepest secrets," he says. "We're not talking about anything different here--just a system that's good for all of us."

Ad 1) Not anything different. Yeah, equally bad.

Ad 2) No, they do not. At least not in my country, Germany. Data transmitted to the bank for payment processing is only the amount due and the recipient. The bank can see that I was shopping in store X, but not what I bought. And they cannot use this information in any way that is not related to complete the transaction. They cannot sell the information, not even in aggregated and anonymized form.

And this is a very good thing. I feel sorry for anyone living in a place with lesser protection.

Re:Hello Mr. Rodriguez

[ScrewMaster]

Hello Mr. Rodriguez and welcome back to the GAP!

"I'm sorry Mrs. Rodriquez, it appears that you just purchased those diapers and baby wipes on sale at another Wal-Mart, and are attempting to return them here for a full price refund. Please wait while I summon the police."

I've seen that happen a couple of times at Wal-Mart: the cops came in and hauled one woman and her kids away. She had a huge cartful of stuff she was trying to "return" for profit.

Re:Ey, meester, my eye scanner preedeects weeth 99

[haruchai]

No sense of humor? Tsk, tsk.

So what about cataracts

[nurb432]

Your life is then over, as you cant even get a sandwich from the local burger doodle when doors no longer open for you. Or worse, it calls the police automatically for you as it traps you in the double door 'protection system'.

Re:Hello Mr. Rodriguez

[TheGratefulNet]

Hermanos Rodriguez don't approve of iris scanning.

Re:Phooey. Yeah it was.

[Anonymous Coward]

I hate it when filmmakers are just a little too prophetic.

Or maybe writers like Philip K Dick?

Naaah... That wouldn't work...

[denzacar]

Everyone there wears sunglasses.

I like to keep my eyes where they are

[Accersitus]

I don't really like iris scanners, as they give criminals who need my identity a reason to remove my eyes. I like my eyes where they are thanks.

Don't switch the blade on the guy in shades...

[denzacar]

But the first thing I do when I get up out of bed, is hit that streets a-runnin' and try to beat the masses...

Disguise?

[EkriirkE]

It should be pretty easy to create contact lenses (even non-rx) to thwart this? Maybe even when you register wear the lenses to have false data on their systems

Re:Disguise?

[h4rr4r]

Why?
The center can be nice and clear. We already have contacts that cover the whole iris to make it look like an eightball or something.

Re:Disguise?

[EkriirkE]

Maybe true for a retina scan, but this uses the iris from what I skimmed. Even still, surely some kind of diffraction coating (laser engraving) could disrupt a retina scan w/o impairing your vision too much.

Not going far enough!

[TheNarrator]

They need to integrate this Iris scanner with the person's location history, recent contacts and online activity and come up with a TerrorScore(tm). If it goes above a certain threshold that a Bayesian algorithm has determined will make them likely to commit criminal acts, the drones can be automatically dispatched to the location of the subject with a hellfire missile to dispose of the threat. It's like spam filtering, but for people! ;)

ALL OF YOU, SHH! Use movie-script to sue gov.

[NRAdude]

If you think about it, we actually need Software Patents and Pantent-laws, so that we we can invent all these New World Odor schemes by suing them for violating our patends disclosed in simulations presented in movie theatres.

And there you have it. Thanks Orson for the movie, now who'se going to buy that evidence inherint in the disclosure of that movie? Klingon is a language too, and the Klingons don't attack Planet Earth because they
know the RIAA and MPAA will sue them using Patent-law. It's like this with COPS, they are only arresting un-licensed drug dealers because they hold the Patents on drug-dealing: government hates competition.

Re:Phooey. Yeah it was.

[bhcompy]

Exactly. Dick is the prophet here, not a crappy movie

Just more proof that...

[CorvisRex]

Phillip K. Dick should be required reading for all kids. That way when they grow up and begin making decision that effect others, they just might(maybe) say, "Wow, I read something like this when I was a kid, it didn't turn out so well if I remember correctly." The reason so many Science Fiction writers can often be prophetic is that they look at a technology or an idea, and ask "I wonder what could go wrong with this?", "What will this idea mutate into in 100 years?" They think about the horrible, painful, or just bizarre turns technology and ideas can take. It is usually intended as social commentary, but is most often ignored...
Maybe they are just more in-tuned with the spirit of Murphy's Law than most....

Re:Just more proof that...

[Penguinisto]

Phillip K. Dick should be required reading for all kids.

Followed very closely by Robert Heinlein (I specifically recommend this one, followed by this one.)

Good luck with that

[zogger]

I guess these business guys just don't grok that in Mexico, people who don't want their irises scanned or to be tracked, stuff like that, are known to cut off the heads of people who are trying to dick with them. And that's *after* they have some "sport" with them.

They might as well issue these iris scanner techs *red shirts*.

Re:Phooey. Yeah it was.

[ScrewMaster]

Exactly. Dick is the prophet here, not a crappy movie

{sigh} you're nitpickers, both of you.

This is how you know they're not telling the truth

[Brianwa]

"Fraud, which is a $50 billion problem, will be completely eradicated"

The end is near

[aristotle-dude]

How soon after this will everyone be required to be chipped in the hand in order buy, sell or work? Mark of the beast is coming and sheeple on the internets will welcome it with open arms because they will think that it is "cool" and subversive against the faith of their forefathers. Do you really want to become a drone?

Wake up before it's too late.

L.S.D: Obvious solution

[yossarianuk]

I'd advise taking as much Acid as you can all the time - ok you may have issues adjusting to this new reality but there is a small chance if you do enough you'll irreversibly change the shape of your pupils... If not at least you won't get bored trying.

Epic Fail

[twakar]

How anyone, except those that will profit from this, can think this a good idea is beyond me. Should enough politicians be bought, and sheeple swayed that this makes it into Canada and the US, I'm going to have to move into the mountains, or under a bridge. I've got a sneaking suspicion that this one of the 'boiling frog' ideas where the original is so outlandish that a watered down version would be accepted. This is just a bad idea on so many levels. I will refuse to participate.

Since the information would be kept in a private companys' database, I can't help but think of the movie Robocop, where all of society is run by a single corporation. I genuinely hope that I, or my family don't live to see such a society.

Reminiscent of 1984 telescreen tech

[mysidia]

It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself--anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face...; was itself a punishable offense. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime..."
- George Orwell, 1984, Book 1, Chapter 5

Re:Hide Your Eyes

[countertrolling]

...opaque contact lenses?

Like the tinted windows on your car, they will become illegal.. Many banks now require you to remove your sunglasses and ball cap as you enter. Besides, in the future, if not already, the machines will easily discriminate between a plastic surface and a natural cornea. And also, as we enter this new dark age, opaque lenses might not be very practical, if you know what I'm sayin'. May as well just poke your eyes out.

Normally

[umask077]

Well normally i object to vandalism but if these arrive in the US I'm putting on dark sunglasses and going on a break the sensor spree.

What problems for privacy do you see?

[master_p]

I don't see that many problems concerning privacy. So this system will remember when and where we went. So? It is not to be placed in our homes.

Re:What problems for privacy do you see?

[mrjb]

So what? Everyone has something to hide, and it's not only indoors. The system has no business spying on when and where people went.

This is a step worse than CCTV cameras (which were put up "for the safety of the public" but don't really help reduce crime). Now imagine that all this imagery is also conveniently linked to the names of people.

Some people go to the local Red Light district. Others go to their dealer. Yet others go and visit their lovers or whatnot. Yet others accidentally find themselves at the scene of a crime and *really* don't want to be forced to be a witness in the case, nor to be implicated. Yet these scanners will place them at a certain location at a certain time. So what?

Fact: Information leaks. It is not a matter of if it happens, but when it happens. Do you want to be watching your every step 24/7 just because information about your whereabouts will be out there at some point in the future?

"But if I'm doing nothing wrong, so I'm OK with people watching me." True story: I like to go out for walks at night. I live near an industrial area which has some nice paths, ponds, and a good scenery. Great to go for a stroll, and I'm doing nothing wrong, just enjoying the evening air. Suddenly a security car pulls up next to me asking me what I'm doing. "Just going for a stroll", I answer. Apparently someone has seen me walking about on CCTV. Mind you- not doing anything wrong. But just because someone has decided to put up CCTV cameras and sees me walking about, my innocent stroll suddenly triggers them sending over a security car. I now feel less free to move about, because I don't want to cause false alarms. What used to be "doing nothing wrong" without CCTV, suddenly becomes "possibly being a nuisance" if CCTV is there (even though my behaviour is the same!) Who wants to bet that to keep going for walks there will eventually get me in trouble? In any case, my stroll will never be the same: Either I avoid said area (for no good reason!) or what was previously an innocent stroll about, in my mind would now be a rebel statement. So what? It changes everything, because it changes me.

In the middle of all this, you're forgetting that you (and all of us) have rights, which were hard-won, and you're giving them away, just like that, saying "So what?" The blood of our ancestors, that's what!

Re:What problems for privacy do you see?

[master_p]

Don't you give away your rights as well by fearing to go in said area at night?

Re:What problems for privacy do you see?

[xc1024]

Do you really think it's going to stop at getting these into public places? Wake up. If you don't resist, sooner or later those things will get into your house as well.

Sunglasses?

[Joce640k]

"Sir ... he just ... disappeared!"

(Or even: "Señor .... ha .... disapericido!")

So I suppose

[ThatsNotPudding]

being blind will become a crime.

perfect excuse...

[space_hippy]

...for me to get those mirrored contacts I've thought about since college. Originally I just wanted to freak out my professors.

Re:Phooey. Yeah it was.

[jgrahn]

I hate it when filmmakers are just a little too prophetic.

Or maybe writers like Philip K Dick?

I can't recall any iris scanner in the original story ...