How California Police Are Tracking Your Biometric Data In the Field (muckrock.com)

v3rgEz writes: EFF and MuckRock teamed up in August to reveal how state and local law enforcement agencies are using mobile biometric technology in the field by filing public records requests around the country. With the help of members of the public who nominated jurisdictions for investigation, we have now obtained thousands of pages of documents from more than 30 agencies. Here's how police around California are using iris scanners, fingerprint readers, and facial recognition to monitor civilians.

Comments

This is only going to become more common

[metrix007]

There are few ways to combat this, and it's a losing war to fight against a system that supports this.

The goal should be to fix the system so that this kind of nonsense is outlawed, and I believe we will meet that goal eventually. People are becoming outraged and are not OK with all this snooping...I expect this to change because when enough people are upset at behavior that is no longer hidden...it can't continue for much longer.

If it doesn't change, or in the meanwhile, what can we do? I've considered erasing fingerprints before, maybe by burning them off (I don't like having my fingerprints recorded every time I enter the US, or for any other matter). That's legal. It may raise questions, but nothing illegal about it. It's much harder (nigh impossible) to change an iris, but possibly wearing contacts could work.

Facial recognition is actually much easier. I forget the study/article, but basically by wearing some clear plastic parts on yoru face in the right way, it tends to obscure facial recognition techniques. Perhaps some special "fashionable" glasses/sunglasses or a baseball cap, something with plausible deniability that will obscure results legally. That, or grow the largest most unattractive beard you can. Not sure what ladies can do...maybe a special kind of makeup could be developed, which would be cool....

KGIII, ignore this post and go back to Digg. Please.

Re:This is only going to become more common

[truck_soccer]

I would say that you're wrong about the majority of people giving a shit about their privacy. If that were true, the smartphone boom would have been a bubble that burst. Instead we just see more and more privacy invasions wrapped up in a fancy new "smart" device, and millions and millions of people line up to get one. That isn't what I would call "outrage". Sure, the more savvy folks understand the underworkings of all this and are thus annoyed. People are too comfortable right now to really care about it. The powers that be have already won this war, and the minority (technically-abled folks) sound like crazy tin foil nutters when we talk to the typical citizen about all the ways uncle sam knows everything about you. TL;DR the average joe just doesnt give a fuck.

SJPD seeking alternative funding sources?

[rsborg]

San Jose told EFF that it did not receive the federal grant and is seeking alternative funding sources.

This note piqued my interest - I wonder what other funding sources they could be speaking of?

Pay your fair share! The gov't needs *more* money!

[Anonymous Coward]

Why does the government need more money and more power?

So it can be used AGAINST YOU!!!

So be sure to vote for politicians that want "someone else" to pay "their fair share".

Naaah, it couldn't be that those pols just want MORE POWER, could it?

It couldn't be they're FOOLING YOU, could it?

Of course not! You're too smart for that.

But damn, you HATE what the NSA is doing.

You HATE the militarization of police forces.

You HATE how the government seems to care more about the interests of large corporations.

Because NONE of that has anything to do with an overweening government that has more money and resources than it needs.

Unh huh. You're TOO SMART to think that!