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FBI's New Eye Scan Database Raising Eyebrows
Posted by
timothy
on Mon Jun 30, 2008 12:06 PM
from the trust-us-we're-from-the-government dept.
from the trust-us-we're-from-the-government dept.
mattnyc99 writes "The FBI has confirmed to Popular Mechanics that it's not only adding palm prints to its criminal records, but preparing to balloon its repository of photos, which an agency official says 'could be the basis for our facial recognition.' It's all part of a new biometric software system that could store millions of iris scans within 10 years and has privacy advocates crying foul. Quoting: 'The FBI's Next Generation Identification (NGI) system, which could cost as much as $1 billion over its 10-year life cycle, will create an unprecedented database of biometric markers, such as facial images and iris scans. For criminal investigators, NGI could be as useful as DNA some day — a distinctive scar or a lopsided jaw line could mean the difference between a cold case and closed one. And for privacy watchdogs, it's a dual threat — seen as a step toward a police state, and a gold mine of personal data waiting to be plundered by cybercriminals.'"
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DoJ Budget Request Details Advanced Surveillance, Biometrics 39 comments
An anonymous reader writes with a report about programs revealed in the Department of Justice's 2010 budget request, which includes $233.9 million in funding for an "Advanced Electronic Surveillance" project, and $97.6 million to establish the Biometric Technology Center. The surveillance project is designed to help the FBI "deal with changing technology and ways to intercept phone calls such as those used by VOIP phones or technology such as Skype. The program is also conducting research on ways to conduct automated analysis to look for links between subjects of surveillance and other investigative suspects." The Center for Democracy and Technology's Jim Dempsey warns, "It is appropriate for the FBI to develop more and more powerful interception tools, but the privacy laws that are supposed to guide and limit the use of those tools have not kept pace." The biometrics plan lays groundwork for a "vast database of personal data including fingerprints, iris scans and DNA which the FBI calls the Next Generation Identification," a system we have discussed in the past.
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Want to make money? (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Or perhaps a company that sells novelty contact lenses [halloweenexpress.com].
Blah (Score:4, Insightful)
The DMV and the US government already have my picture (passport). Why should I give a shit if the FBI has it or has access to it?
Re:Blah (Score:5, Informative)
BBC did a documentary on biometrics a year or so back. Iris ID has been used in Dubai for soem time it said. Also it pointed out that a way to defeat this is any drug that dialates the pupils. So; smoke a bong and smile ;)
Parent
Re:Blah (Score:4, Informative)
Also it pointed out that a way to defeat this is any drug that dialates the pupils. So; smoke a bong and smile ;)
Marijuana doesn't dialate the pupils, although it can make your eyes red and droopy (maybe just as good). Non-addictive drugs don't do jack to the pupils.
If you want your eyes dialated, you're going to have to snort coke or smoke meth or crack. Downers and narcotics like Heroin or Demerol will make your pupils constrict.
Parent
Re:Blah (Score:4, Funny)
Also it pointed out that a way to defeat this is any drug that dialates the pupils. So; smoke a bong and smile ;)
Marijuana doesn't dialate the pupils, although it can make your eyes red and droopy (maybe just as good). Non-addictive drugs don't do jack to the pupils.
If you want your eyes dialated, you're going to have to snort coke or smoke meth or crack. Downers and narcotics like Heroin or Demerol will make your pupils constrict.
Most psychedelics will alter your pupil size and are not physically addicting (besides Ketamine, woo yay). I know LSD and Psilocybin/Psilocin will dialate your pupils WAAAY more than coke/crack/meth. Though there's a SLIGHT possibility of it interfering with your daily tasks :P
Parent
Re:Blah (Score:4, Funny)
And if illegal amphetamines or hallucinegenics don't do it for you, then you could always try something really crazy, like eye drops.
Parent
Re:Blah (Score:4, Funny)
Non-addictive drugs don't do jack to the pupils.
Echo xonar's note on the psychedelics. A good healthy breakfast of funky fungus will blow your pupils to the point that the iris is difficult to find, let alone ID.
However, it's not terribly difficult to recognize when somebody is on mushrooms/LSD/etc. If they're going to detain you based on your irises, having them missing is probably just as effective a way to get arrested as springing up a positive match.
Parent
too many movies (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:too many movies (Score:5, Informative)
You seem to be talking about retinal scanners -- iris recognition is considerably less intrusive. I don't know about retinal scans being harmful, but I'm quite sure iris recognition isn't.
(At least, in the superficial physical sense).
Parent
Re:too many movies (Score:5, Informative)
You're correct. Iris scans, as opposed to retinal scans, can be done quickly using only ambient lighting. And, with decent optics, they can be done at surprising distances. The only real limitation is the atmospheric effects you get from small air currents, thermals, etc. And, on a calm, cool day, those don't become an issue for a good way off.
Parent
Eyeglasses an advantage! (Score:5, Insightful)
looks like all us "four-eyes" are going to have an extra modicum of privacy.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Naw, you'll just get put on the terror list first.
Think about it. You wear glasses because you are correcting your vision, possibly because you enjoy reading. While reading, you might be exposed to materials that are critical of plans to implement things such as iris scanners. Reading these critiques might cause you to begin thinking the government maybe exceeded its authority.
This kind of "thinking" is a strict no-no. True
Re:Eyeglasses an advantage! (Score:4, Funny)
I thought the requisite income for owning a monocle meant you were controlling the surveillance system.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Retina scanning is also fairly useless for ID, the retina changes over time, as bits of it die and regrow.
Re:too many movies (Score:4, Funny)
Hey! I'm over here!
Parent
Re:too many movies (Score:5, Funny)
Or going outside when the sun is shining.
What is this "sun" of which you speak?
Parent
Re:too many movies (Score:5, Funny)
You go outside!?
Parent
'Duel' threat? (Score:5, Funny)
> And for privacy watchdogs, it's a duel threat
I guess they really threw down the gauntlet, huh?
Now which weapon should I choose... rapier and/or dagger?
Re: (Score:2)
Grenade
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Now which weapon should I choose... rapier and/or dagger?
Ballot box
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I wasn't aware that you could vote for (or against) the FBI. But then, I'm not an American and there's much about your political system that I don't understand.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
BFG 9000 for me please.
Re:'Duel' threat? (Score:4, Funny)
I think I'll take banjos, for $500.
Parent
En Garde (Score:5, Funny)
And for privacy watchdogs, it's a duel threat
En garde!
well of course it's raising eyebrows... (Score:5, Funny)
how else would the scanner be able to read the eye?
It will inevitably lead to mistakes. (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, where is this technology outsourced from?... (Score:3, Interesting)
Really? Is more outsourcing of sensitive government tasks the way to go? Have we learned nothing from experience...
Re:Yes, where is this technology outsourced from?. (Score:5, Insightful)
Anybody notice the mention of Lockheed Martin in the original article?
Really? Is more outsourcing of sensitive government tasks the way to go? Have we learned nothing from experience...
The federal government outsources just about all of their sensitive science and engineering. Sandia National Lab [sandia.gov] is run by Lockheed Martin. LANL [lanl.gov] and LLNL [llnl.gov] are also run by contractors. Nothing new.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
The federal government outsources just about all of their sensitive science and engineering. Sandia National Lab is run by Lockheed Martin. LANL and LLNL are also run by contractors.
And that's why it's called the "military-industrial complex"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military-industrial_complex [wikipedia.org]
President Eisenhower popularized the phrase, but it's an old concept.
Apparently even the fascists worried about the MIC.
Nothing new.
Well... the GP is obviously new here
(no really, he is)
test subjects (Score:5, Insightful)
They should use the politicians that control the agency, and the upper level bosses in the agency, as the first test subjects. Not that they have anything to hide, but I'm guessing they wouldn't like it in this case.
I see where this is going... (Score:4, Funny)
Well, what about the people with no eyeballs? OR HANDS?! OR FACES!? OR EVEN DNA?! You think criminals are dangerous, it's the criminal zombies you have to be really afraid of! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
They never would have caught me... (Score:5, Funny)
Hold up (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Hold up (Score:5, Insightful)
Nevermind someone hacking the FBI DB - what if some data entry monkey just screws up their data entry?
"And now, entering data for serial killer John Doe, III" while having the record open for Jon Do, II. How will this be changed? Updated?
I have a trivial mistake in my passport file (they have the wrong passport labeled as lost), and it is costing me 2 hours at immigration every time I fly. I have checked, and it is not possible to correct it. I fear to think what would happen with a more serious mistake. I'm pretty sure there'd be a lengthy trial involved, if not outright conviction and lengthy appeal.
Parent
Re:Hold up (Score:5, Funny)
I do not leave my iris information at a crime scene.
Er... what *do* you leave at your crime scenes?
Parent
And? (Score:4, Insightful)
Technology has been moving this way for decades. There is even an argument that it's been moving this way for centuries.
And so what? How much is this really going to effect us? Really? As things stand we have all our information stored by banks, hospitals, employers, and social networks. This is a natural progression.
Anyone who thinks governments wouldn't do this obviously didn't pay attention at school. They've been doing this since they came into existence.
This isn't going to result in a police state. Whats going on in Zimbabwe leads to a police state, not what we have here. All this is is a centralisation of information.
As for me, I don't care whether they want this info or not. And as for the cybercriminal thing, you believe your bank/hospital/employer is any safer? Seriously?
If this move would damn us, we've already been damned for some time.
Next up, world doesn't end when this happens.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
This isn't going to result in a police state. Whats going on in Zimbabwe leads to a police state, not what we have here.
I agree. The concern over this seems to be making a mountain out of a molehill. Having an iris or other biometric profile for criminals is no more invasive than having images of tattoos or mug shots in a computer database. It is simply the progression of technology.
For people who have no criminal convictions, I think there are legitimate concerns and that their biometric information sho
Stop acting like this isn't a problem. (Score:3, Insightful)
And this is ok on the face of it, but NOT the way these companies are being allowed to abuse it. Just because the abuse is ubiquitous doesn't mean it's ok.. that's like going back to the 1850's and arguing "slavery is the result of natural progression".
Oh it doesn't hurt you at all as long as you're a conformis
Re:And? (Score:4, Interesting)
Hmmmm.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
This isn't going to result in a police state. Whats going on in Zimbabwe leads to a police state, not what we have here.
What will lead to a police state? The US IS a police state. If you have secret police you have a police state, and it doesn't matter if you call them "secret police" or politically correct euphemisms like "plainclothesmen" or "undercover agents".
Get rid of victimless "crimes" and you have no rational need for secret police.
If this move would damn us, we've already been damned for some time
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Alternatives (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
There isn't. The system that allows you to instantly track criminals is the one that allows you to instantly track everybody. This is the definition of a police state.
You know, I like some inefficiencies in my government. It makes sure that some dimwit who can't get a regular job doesn't get a Napoleon complex and institutes some harebrained regulation.
Yes, it means some crimes go unsolved. I prefer that to some stupid crimes being solved.
Re:Alternatives (Score:4, Insightful)
The better the tools law enforcement has, the better for all of us.
Except when law enforcement and assorted bureaucrats and incompetents are the bad guys. Your automatic assumption that law enforcement are the good guys is telling. Do you think the percentage of bad guys in law enforcement is larger or smaller than the general population?
I get annoyed with people advocating large databases accessed by large groups of people. Any large group of people will have good and bad in it. How do you deal with that? It's not as simple as you think.
And what makes you think a database of millions of people and accessed by tens of thousands isn't going to compromised by organized crime approximately 30 seconds after it goes live? How will it affect witness protection programs? How will it affect the innocents who have erroneous data on their name? How will it affect innocents who have bad data deliberately put on their name?
We could make law enforcement's job much easier but putting everybody's biometrics into a big database at birth and requiring everybody to have an operation putitng a GPS radio into them. Why don't we do that? It's a question of balance. Unfortunately, law enforcement's and politicians' idea of balance seems to be somewhat different from the general population's.
---
DRM - Have you got big-corp-of-your-choice's permission to go to the toilet today?
Parent
Please do Not (Score:4, Insightful)
Look Into the Laser With Your REMAINING Eye.
The BIG problems with biometrics that rely on external facial features along with such things as facial bone structures is that they CAN be foxed rather easily by a good makeup artist as well as by plastic surgery.
Scars can be added - and removed - both by clever applications of makeup and/or plastic surgery. The set of a person's eyebrow ridge can similarly e altered (for the purpose of fooling scans) using either technology as well. So can the set of one's cheekbones, jawline or even the confirmation of the ears (another unique body feature, like the fingerprint).
Once again, the government goes down a path that is easily mucked up and that will produce highly questionable results.
Thanks again, Washington, for spending more of our money on eye scanners and less on things like flood control programs, bridge inspection teams and systems to keep our ports safe from maniacs who just might try to blow one of them higher than up!
At first when I read this... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:ok, so what's next? (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Only if you're hanging around in the 19th century. With very few exceptions, examining the iris doesn't give you any information about illnesses (although it can certainly tell you about problems with the iris). Iridology lives on the trash heap [wikipedia.org] of medical history [quackwatch.com] these days. Aside from the fact that it makes no sense from a physiological perspective, it also simply fails on evidence.
As far as I'm concerned, anything that has no theory or data t