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FBI Completes New Face Recognition System

Advocatus Diaboli writes: According to a report from Gizmodo, "After six years and over one billion dollars in development, the FBI has just announced that its new biometric facial recognition software system is finally complete. Meaning that, starting soon, photos of tens of millions of U.S. citizen's faces will be captured by the national system on a daily basis. The Next Generation Identification (NGI) program will logs all of those faces, and will reference them against its growing database in the event of a crime. It's not just faces, though. Thanks to the shared database dubbed the Interstate Photo System (IPS), everything from tattoos to scars to a person's irises could be enough to secure an ID. What's more, the FBI is estimating that NGI will include as many as 52 million individual faces by next year, collecting identified faces from mug shots and some job applications." Techdirt points out that an assessment of how this system affects privacy was supposed to have preceded the actual rollout. Unfortunately, that assessment is nowhere to be found.

Two recent news items are related. First, at a music festival in Boston last year, face recognition software was tested on festival-goers. Boston police denied involvement, but were seen using the software, and much of the data was carelessly made available online. Second, both Ford and GM are working on bringing face recognition software to cars. It's intended for safety and security — it can act as authentication and to make sure the driver is paying attention to the road.

7 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. Re:So wear a Guy Fawkes mask by Baby+Duck · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Once it's rushed out without our consent, all us dissenters can be cataloged and tracked :-(

    --

    "Love heals scars love left." -- Henry Rollins

  2. Re:So wear a Guy Fawkes mask by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I do not consent.

    Unfortunately, many of the sheep in this country (and elsewhere, particularly Australia and the British Empire) simply don't care.

    You are overruled. Move along...

    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
  3. Re:Baaah... by Noah+Haders · · Score: 3, Insightful

    there's a difference when a private company does it and the government does it. the government has the legal ability to shoot and kill citizens on the street, take away their belongings, or jail them for life. we have a constitution in place to limit the role of government. private companies have more leeway but less scope to dictate people's lives.

  4. Re:So wear a Guy Fawkes mask by preaction · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Do you mean politicians?

    With crime on an incredible downswing, I don't see how anyone can justify draconian measures for law enforcement when it is becoming less and less likely that they will be the victim of a crime.

  5. Re:So wear a Guy Fawkes mask by maharvey · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Wow, an insightful and rarely articulated point, supported by hard data! Where are mod points when I need them?

  6. Re:Baaah... by Noah+Haders · · Score: 4, Insightful

    i'm responding tot he comment "vegas casinos were doing this for years". This comment implies that because a private company does it, it's ok for the govt to do it as well. i'm pointing out that the two situations are very different. +1 ontopic.

    there's nothing new or noteworthy about the technology. the new thing is it's in the hands of the govt.