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FBI Plans Nationwide Face-Recognition Trials In 2012

hessian writes with this excerpt: "The FBI by mid-January will activate a nationwide facial recognition service in select states that will allow local police to identify unknown subjects in photos, bureau officials told Nextgov. The federal government is embarking on a multiyear, $1 billion overhaul of the FBI's existing fingerprint database to more quickly and accurately identify suspects, partly through applying other biometric markers, such as iris scans and voice recordings."

25 of 102 comments (clear)

  1. Didn't .. by deimios666 · · Score: 5, Informative

    FaceBook Inc.already have that? Ah you mean the other FBI...

    --
    I think, therefore you are.
    1. Re:Didn't .. by Extremus · · Score: 3, Funny

      Ant it works as in this Dilbert strip? http://www.dilbert.com/2010-12-17/

  2. And in related news... by jenningsthecat · · Score: 2

    ...investment in plastic surgery practices has soared!

    --
    'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
    1. Re:And in related news... by smi.james.th · · Score: 2

      You say that in jest, but one wonders how much this facial recognition stuff will be affected by if I for example grow a beard, or shave my beard, or break my nose. Does anyone have any insight into this one?

      --
      One thing I know, and that is that I am ignorant...
    2. Re:And in related news... by houstonbofh · · Score: 2

      Not much. The software works by measuring ratios to facial markers, like eyes, ears, nose, chin and mouth. Facial hair does not cover much of this. A medical mask, however...

  3. Society and unrestrained power by FriendlyLurker · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Like how our society has turned into a culture of unrestrained power? Yeah, me either.

    1. Re:Society and unrestrained power by FriendlyLurker · · Score: 2

      P.S. We can pretty much chalk the budget approval for this project up to one movement: occupywallst.org

    2. Re:Society and unrestrained power by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2

      P.S. We can pretty much chalk the budget approval for this project up to one movement: occupywallst.org

      Now that's just stupid. You don't believe the truck bombing in Time Square and along the MLK day parade route out West was enough?

      So, the monolithic, powerful government took one look at the kids in the Occupy Wall Street movement who already all have facebook and twitter profiles in their real names along with multiple photographs in their profiles (half of which are photos of them looking straight into a mirror) suddenly made the FBI director say "We gotta find out who these protestors are!". It's not like they couldn't go to the "Occupy Wall Street" Twitter or Facebook page and see their pictures next to their names or anything.

      Plus, the budget approval for this program took place more than a year ago. Probably around the time the Tea Party first started having rallies where they were toting guns and talking about "taking out" the president and congress people who wouldn't fight for their Medicare by cutting the budget.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
  4. Them muslims are prescient by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Burqahs gonna be fashionable in 2012.

  5. States haev had this by nurb432 · · Score: 4

    Many states have already had this internally, so its logical to extend this nationwide since we don't have "hard" borders between states, from a technology standpoint. Next logical step will be linking up all the nations street corner and red light cameras with this database as a pre-emptive measure to find people.

    Not that i agree with any of this morally, but its logical in the pure technical sense.

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
    1. Re:States haev had this by jovius · · Score: 2

      True. The logical objective for the law enforcement would be to have a complete access to all of the people in real time. The thing is that when your reputation/position is high enough you become a "trustworthy" citizen and a member of the club. The system can't reach it's objective because of this inherent feature. It paradoxically promotes lawlessness and law obedience at the same time and upkeeps divisions and inequality in the society.

      As long as the average human leadership types are somewhere close to selfish sosiopaths the system keeps human evolution at bay.

  6. $1 billion dollar overhaul by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    That's all you need to know.

    Did I just imply that this entire "initiative" is nothing but a smokescreen for raking more cash through the hands of the elite who control the business of government?

    You're god damn right I did.

  7. Re:LOL! American Freedom! by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Informative

    Glad I'm never going to set foot again in the US

    The US feels the same.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  8. Re:LOL! American Freedom! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Glad I'm never going to set foot again in the US, what a nightmare it has become.

    The last time I set foot on US soil was back in the early '70s, I liked the place.
    I've *no intention ever* of setting foot on US soil ever again (I say 'intention', I suppose I may be dragged there someday to answer for 'thought crimes' against the US, but we'll dynamite that bridge when we come to it..)

    FFS!, what the hell have you lot become?

    You've now been on 'the Muslim menace' terror scare for a decade, you're getting nowhere, fast, but the joke appears to be that during the decades of fighting 'the Commies', you'd parodied Communist societies and their totalitarian/authoritarian ways, sometimes justified, sometimes just plain loony (total central control?; I think/know not..) and used this parody to scare your population into fearing 'them'. Someone in your government in the light of your current 'difficulties' has saw this shit and thought, 'what a bunch of good ideas! let's implement them' .
    You're now becoming that parody of communist societies you used to hate/fear, but, unlike the Soviets, your lot have the technology now to really make it work..

    Way to fucking go, USofA...

    So much for 'Land of the Free...'

    As this is technically still an IT site, can I just add a plea to anyone working on related hardware/software projects, just because you can do something, this doesn't mean that you have to, think carefully about how your work can be used and abused, and just remember, on the abuse side, it'll be used against you and your families as well..

  9. And how likely is that? by TubeSteak · · Score: 5, Insightful

    [Thomas E. Bush III, who helped develop NGI's system requirements when he served as assistant director of the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services division between 2005 and 2009, said] said, "We do have the capability to search against each other's systems," but added, "if you don't come to the attention of law enforcement you don't have anything to fear from these systems."

    I'm going to quote an old post from the "DMCA Abuse Widespread" article:

    Whenever a controversial law is proposed, and its supporters, when confronted with an egregious abuse it would permit, use a phrase along the lines of 'Perhaps in theory, but the law would never be applied in that way' - they're lying . They intend to use the law that way as early and as often as possible.

    It is inevitable that once the capabilities are present, they will be abused.
    The scale of the abuse is only limited by how much money the government is willing to spend on auditing and enforcement.

    --
    [Fuck Beta]
    o0t!
  10. Re:LOL! American Freedom! by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's not yet illegal to wear them in public,

    Actually, it is illegal to wear a mask in a demonstration in New York. That's why you're seeing so many of the protestors wearing the masks on the back of their heads instead of covering their faces.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  11. 2012 disasters, right by harvey+the+nerd · · Score: 2

    I wonder how many people are going to get hurt or killed on a "mistaken identity", kinda, sorta doubles "Wanted" with trigger happy police.

  12. The principal problem: statistics by cheros · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Programs like CSI are a mild source of amusement to me. These films run a partial fingerprint through an apparently flawless database and hey presto, a match that stands up in court. Fantastic. Also total nonsense.

    Especially a partial will throw up a whole LIST of possible matches, not one unique one. Even if you have two full fingers you get more than one, and that is a simple function of the resolution with which these biometrics are measured against the volume of data that is being matched - you WILL get duplicates.

    To illustrate: use hair color as a biometric. If your database has more than 5 people you're sure to end up with duplicates - there are only so many different colours.

    Here we are again heading for disaster. Apart from the fact that we'll again end up with a database that is just BEGGING to be abused by all and sundry (I'm starting to suspect that these days that abuse is actually a goal rather than an issue worth avoiding) we well again end up with lots of false positives. Face geometry isn't exactly perfect, as people using Farcebook must have already found out (yes, Facebook does a biometric scan on *every* picture you upload - not just the ones you tag), yet again it's sold as *the* solution. Even more astonishing is that they find buyers who still believe that (well, OK, maybe after a certain amount of "encouragement").

    The reason it works for the Israelis is simple: people have a much better ability to combine various sense mechanisms when properly trained. Trained people and dogs are in my opinion a *LOT* harder to fool than any machine, however expensive. What's more - it's actually cheaper.

    But hey - it was never about security anyway, was it?

    It's just another ploy to sell some useless kit..

    --
    Insert .sig here. Send no money now. Owner may sue, contents will settle. Batteries not included.
  13. And $3B later... by gstrickler · · Score: 3, Insightful

    it will either work poorly, or will be scrapped.

    --
    make imaginary.friends COUNT=100 VISIBLE=false
    1. Re:And $3B later... by cybergrunt69 · · Score: 2

      it will either work poorly, or will be scrapped.

      Only $3B? Like most government programs, it will run horribly over-budget, so maybe $7B by the time they are done.
      Of course, it will also work properly around 50% of the time. For the 50% wrong side, you should prepare (mentally at least) to be nabbed for something you had nothing to do with.
      Yes, you, that wheelchair-bound old white guy in Florida, will be mobbed by the SWAT teams from 17 ThreeLetterAgencies at 4AM, and arrested at gunpoint if you aren't executed.... er...... mistakenly shot 84 times. It doesn't matter that they are looking for Juan Valdez for a bank robbery in Oregon.

      After public outcry over the "little whoopsie", congress will authorize another $5B to over-haul the system, as well as extend the invasive measures to ensure those mistakes don't happen again.

      Don't forget, this system is not meant to harass normal upstanding citizens, only to help catch bad guys. Kinda like how DHS is just protecting us, and the PATRIOT Act is just for our own protection.

      And whether or not it works has nothing to do with it's continued use. It's a huge payday for so many people it will never go away. After being such a huge money-sucker, it will be too embarrassing to kill it and admit to wasting so much cash.

      --
      --- "To ignore race and sex is racist and sexist!" -- Jesse Jackson
  14. Re:LOL! American Freedom! by lexsird · · Score: 2

    That's just the tip of the iceberg.

    What you are seeing is the US approaching the event horizon of a singularity. I have to ponder how close the Chinese are to it in contrast to us. Perhaps that is why Clinton did what he did in regards to helping them with super computer technology. Considering they now have the biggest supercomputer, I find the whole issue something I wish I could have just remained ignorant of.

    Ponder this, just how delighted an AI will be to find these tools at it's disposal? It's not like the software is the issue, but the hardware and networks in place.

    But on a lighter note, to answer your question "FFS! What the hell have you lot become?"

    The answer is fascists. Look at the definition of fascism and the history of it's rise and fall. When you do, and compare and contrast it to modern America, try not to soil yourself when the "aha!" moment happens. Our propaganda mechanisms for combating "communism and socialism" have proven quite handy in the post cold war years for advancing corporate interests. Our military industrial complex over the past 50 years have become quite impressive and aggressive.

    The mechanisms for our transformation are in place, we are just going through the phases of the transition. We are about to enter an "inner cleansing phase", notice how "polarized" the country is. This isn't polarization. This is blatant fascist brainwashing propaganda taking place. Those who fall in line, and are of use to the "system" are being pitted against the "resistance". The targets will be the old, the "liberals", the undereducated minorities who don't properly migrate to where they are needed most as base labor, moral scape goats, etc. Just take note of the undertones and blatant tones of the propaganda machines here, they are quite obvious who they are.

    Yes, it's time to be afraid. Very afraid. Oh, did I mention the entire species doesn't have time for this? We are looking at Apophis possibly slamming into us. We have all of humanities eggs in one basket called Earth. Our self absorbed interests will distract our valuable finite resources from addressing this issue until it's too late. I think we are going to fail our species's "litmus test" of "can we resolve our baser instincts in order to work with our neighbors to avoid extinction". This is something akin to the the Star Trek "Prime Directive", meaning it shows if we are a worthy species to be good galactic/universal neighbors.

    My guess is, the universe already has it's quota of asshole species in it already, any decent responsible "higher" species isn't going to help another one get lose. The term "there goes the neighborhood" isn't just an Earth colloquialism.

    --
    Take the Red Pill.
  15. Look, sir,... by paulxnuke · · Score: 2

    it's Guy Fawkes! Again!

  16. Re:LOL! American Freedom! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    "Actually, it is illegal to wear a mask in a demonstration in New York."

    So how do Burka-clad Muslim women demonstrate for their right to religious freedom?

  17. Re:Why not just make this open? by zippthorne · · Score: 2

    You want to create some kind of online book of faces?

    --
    Can you be Even More Awesome?!
  18. Trial States by Memroid · · Score: 2

    Michigan, Washington, Florida and North Carolina