FBI Wants Biometric Database Hidden From Privacy Act (onthewire.io)

Trailrunner7 quotes a report from onthewire.io: The FBI is working to keep information contained in a key biometric database private and unavailable, even to people whose information is contained in the records. The database is known as the Next Generation Identification System (NGIS), and it is an amalgamation of biometric records accumulated from people who have been through one of a number of biometric collection processes. That could include convicted criminals, anyone who has submitted records to employers, and many other people. The NGIS also has information from agencies outside of the FBI, including foreign law enforcement agencies and governments. Because of the nature of the records, the FBI is asking the federal government to exempt the database from the Privacy Act, making the records inaccessible through information requests. From the report: "The bureau says in a proposal to exempt the database from disclosure that the NGIS should be exempt from the Privacy Act for a number of reasons, including the possibility that providing access 'could compromise sensitive law enforcement information, disclose information which would constitute an unwarranted invasion of another's personal privacy; reveal a sensitive investigative technique; could provide information that would allow a subject to avoid detection or apprehension; or constitute a potential danger to the health or safety of law enforcement personnel, confidential sources, and witnesses.'" RT released a similar report on the matter.

Comments

Hell No!

[samantha]

It is precisely these sort of records that can do us the most mischief - those that government enforcers and some kinds of other interested parties would be most likely to use against us. We must demand to especially see these records and others like them and to be allowed to correct or at least file protest on any that we find inaccurate. In some cases we need to sue against misuse of information voluntarily given in one context in another context in ways never justified against our own interests.

Scope?

[John Marter]

If they get the exemption for that database, what will keep them from migrating all data to that database?

The Ghost Of

[Tablizer]

It seems J. Edgar Hoover is back. The agency is becoming rather power-hungry of late.

It's not their job to push for policy, only implement it. It's fine if they say, "we can do our job better if we have access to X", but to use scare tactics and political pressure to get X is over-stepping their bounds, bordering on McCarthyism.

Re:The Ghost Of

[rahvin112]

Hoover never left. His ghost roams the halls of the FBI and directs policy. This database is nothing more than an extension of the very files the Hoover built to build his own power but dramatically scaled to allow the blackmail of anyone in power or anyone that could ever be in power. None of us are safe when the FBI builds these databases.

Make no mistake, if you've ever submitted ANY biometric information to anyone for any reason it's been added to this database never to be deleted. And that is what they want, biometric information from everyone in the world that they link back to the CIA and homeland security databases with which they know every single thing about you including sequencing your entire DNA.

Very troubling precedence !!

[Taco Cowboy]

... The FBI is working to keep information contained in a key biometric database private and unavailable, even to people whose information is contained in the records ...

Bolded part above is what troubling me

If the biometric is mine, and the records are related to me, I should have the right to check and the right to oversee where those records end up with and who is / are using / checking those records

But as we all already know, our government is marching towards BIG BROTHER TOTALITARIANISM - this is just another attempt by BIG BROTHER to deny us our rights over the records that are basically ours

Kinda sad ... I ran away from a totalitarian regime only to end up into another regime that is gradually turning into totalitarian