FBI's $1,000,000,000 plan to watch you is about to be signed

[Meck77]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/02/04/f...ics/index.html



CLARKSBURG, West Virginia (CNN) -- The FBI is gearing up to create a massive computer database of people's physical characteristics, all part of an effort the bureau says to better identify criminals and terrorists.



The FBI wants to use eye scans, combined with other data, to help identify suspects.



But it's an issue that raises major privacy concerns -- what one civil liberties expert says should concern all Americans.

The bureau is expected to announce in coming days the awarding of a $1 billion, 10-year contract to help create the database that will compile an array of biometric information -- from palm prints to eye scans.

Kimberly Del Greco, the FBI's Biometric Services section chief, said adding to the database is "important to protect the borders to keep the terrorists out, protect our citizens, our neighbors, our children so they can have good jobs, and have a safe country to live in."

But it's unnerving to privacy experts.

"It's the beginning of the surveillance society where you can be tracked anywhere, any time and all your movements, and eventually all your activities will be tracked and noted and correlated," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Technology and Liberty Project.

The FBI already has 55 million sets of fingerprints on file. In coming years, the bureau wants to compare palm prints, scars and tattoos, iris eye patterns, and facial shapes. The idea is to combine various pieces of biometric information to positively identify a potential suspect.


A lot will depend on how quickly technology is perfected, according to Thomas Bush, the FBI official in charge of the Clarksburg, West Virginia, facility where the FBI houses its current fingerprint database. Video Watch what the FBI hopes to gain »

"Fingerprints will still be the big player," Bush, assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division, told CNN.

But he added, "Whatever the biometric that comes down the road, we need to be able to plug that in and play."

First up, he said, are palm prints. The FBI has already begun collecting images and hopes to soon use these as an additional means of making identifications. Countries that are already using such images find 20 percent of their positive matches come from latent palm prints left at crime scenes, the FBI's Bush said.

The FBI has also started collecting mug shots and pictures of scars and tattoos. These images are being stored for now as the technology is fine-tuned. All of the FBI's biometric data is stored on computers 30-feet underground in the Clarksburg facility.

In addition, the FBI could soon start comparing people's eyes -- specifically the iris, or the colored part of an eye -- as part of its new biometrics program called Next Generation Identification.

Nearby, at West Virginia University's Center for Identification Technology Research, researchers are already testing some of these technologies that will ultimately be used by the FBI.

"The best increase in accuracy will come from fusing different biometrics together," said Bojan Cukic, the co-director of the center.

But while law enforcement officials are excited about the possibilities of these new technologies, privacy advocates are upset the FBI will be collecting so much personal information.


"People who don't think mistakes are going to be made I don't think fly enough," said Steinhardt.

He said thousands of mistakes have been made with the use of the so-called no-fly lists at airports -- and that giving law enforcement widespread data collection techniques should cause major privacy alarms.

"There are real consequences to people," Steinhardt said. Video Watch concerns over more data collection »

You don't have to be a criminal or a terrorist to be checked against the database. More than 55 percent of the checks the FBI runs involve criminal background checks for people applying for sensitive jobs in government or jobs working with vulnerable people such as children and the elderly, according to the FBI.

The FBI says it hasn't been saving the fingerprints for those checks, but that may change. The FBI plans a so-called "rap-back" service in which an employer could ask the FBI to keep the prints for an employee on file and let the employer know if the person ever has a brush with the law. The FBI says it will first have to clear hurdles with state privacy laws, and people would have to sign waivers allowing their information to be kept.

Critics say people are being forced to give up too much personal information. But Lawrence Hornak, the co-director of the research center at West Virginia University, said it could actually enhance people's privacy.

"It allows you to project your identity as being you," said Hornak. "And it allows people to avoid identity theft, things of that nature." Video Watch Hornak describe why he thinks it's a "privacy enhancer" »

There remains the question of how reliable these new biometric technologies will be. A 2006 German study looking at facial recognition in a crowded train station found successful matches could be made 60 percent of the time during the day. But when lighting conditions worsened at night, the results shrank to a success rate of 10 to 20 percent.

As work on these technologies continues, researchers are quick to admit what's proven to be the most accurate so far. "Iris technology is perceived today, together with fingerprints, to be the most accurate," said Cukic.

But in the future all kinds of methods may be employed. Some researchers are looking at the way people walk as a possible additional means of identification.

The FBI says it will protect all this personal data and only collect information on criminals and those seeking sensitive jobs.
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The ACLU's Steinhardt doesn't believe it will stop there.

"This had started out being a program to track or identify criminals," he said. "Now we're talking about large swaths of the population -- workers, volunteers in youth programs. Eventually, it's going to be everybody."

[Los Broncos]

Holy ****...

[broncocalijohn]

I thought this would be a government babysitting service. Damn, I needed to leave the house early and have help putting my oldest on the bus. One billion? Sounds like a bargain for government rates (or is that waste?).

[broncocalijohn]

I think the Tom Cruise movie is coming to reality. Anyone want Mr. Fugusaki's eyes?

[MplsBronco]

Who are all these "terrorists" anyway? Anyone know of anyone convicted for 9/11 in a court of law or arrested in the US. If you aren't on to the fact that we are being played, then you aren't paying attention. All in the name of safety from the boogie man "terrorist" that doesn't exist.

[Spider]

Bastard assed republicans .... hey lets Put Bush in office , we hate clinton cause he got a blow Job , you ****ing republican pricks are a waste of skin ........

[Rigs11]

"For the land of the freeeeee...."

[Los Broncos]

Originally Posted by broncocalijohn

I think the Tom Cruise movie is coming to reality. Anyone want Mr. Fugusaki's eyes?

It looks that way..

[alkemical]

Originally Posted by Lynchmob72

It looks that way..

It was a Philip K Dick Novel that "Minority Report" was based on. If that freaked you out, check out "a scanner darkly".

[Los Broncos]

Originally Posted by claviculasolomonis

It was a Philip K Dick Novel that "Minority Report" was based on. If that freaked you out, check out "a scanner darkly".

I liked that movie, ill check around for the other.

[alkemical]

Originally Posted by Lynchmob72

I liked that movie, ill check around for the other.

Blade Runner (1982)
Based on "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"

Screamers (1995)
Based on "Second Variety"

Total Recall (1990)
Based on "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale"

Confessions d'un Barjo (French, 1992)
Based on "Confessions of a Crap Artist"

Impostor (2001)
Based on "Impostor."

Minority Report (2002)
Based on "The Minority Report."

Paycheck (December 25, 2003)
Based on "Paycheck."

A Scanner Darkly (July 7, 2006)
Based on "A Scanner Darkly"

Next (April 27, 2007)
Based on "The Golden Man"

[El Guapo]

Originally Posted by MplsBronco

All in the name of safety from the boogie man "terrorist" that doesn't exist.

Yes, because those that flew the planes into the towers on 9/11 were economists.

[alkemical]

Hey, we are all terrorists. We are all guilty before innocent. Don't believe, then why is the gov't tapping your phone? Why do they want to read your email? OBVIOUSLY they don't trust us.

[MplsBronco]

Originally Posted by Maverick_7

Yes, because those that flew the planes into the towers on 9/11 were economists.

You need to ask yourself who supported these hijackers. Who provided them with economic support. Who supported them internally here in the US. Certainly they must have had a network beyond the 19 on those planes. Yet no one as been apprehended and tried in the US for the crimes that day. Go beyond what is spoon fed to you via the mainstream media. Think logically. Any conspiracy goes beyond simply those who carry out the deed. Where are they and why does the gov't think they need to spy on you and me? This isn't about terrorism, my friend. It's about control.

[baja]

Originally Posted by MplsBronco

You need to ask yourself who supported these hijackers. Who provided them with economic support. Who supported them internally here in the US. Certainly they must have had a network beyond the 19 on those planes. Yet no one as been apprehended and tried in the US for the crimes that day. Go beyond what is spoon fed to you via the mainstream media. Think logically. Any conspiracy goes beyond simply those who carry out the deed. Where are they and why does the gov't think they need to spy on you and me? This isn't about terrorism, my friend. It's about control.

And those controllers know human nature well, they understand the average citizen will be unwilling to get his mind around the necessary doubt and suspicion to even question the official 9/11 story. It is because denial is better than the consequences of the truth that insure their success and the reason that otherwise smart people will not question the official report.

[Meck77]

Originally Posted by claviculasolomonis

Hey, we are all terrorists. We are all guilty before innocent. Don't believe, then why is the gov't tapping your phone? Why do they want to read your email? OBVIOUSLY they don't trust us.

And the Home Grown terrorist bill is being pushed through as we speak. Perfect timing. I'm probably on the terrorist watch list for organizing a people's rally on the footsteps of the Capital in Denver.

[alkemical]

Originally Posted by Meck77

And the Home Grown terrorist bill is being pushed through as we speak. Perfect timing. I'm probably on the terrorist watch list for organizing a people's rally on the footsteps of the Capital in Denver.

Well, FEMA considers the founding fathers of this nation as terrorists, so what does that tell you: Our gov't has no interest in freedom, only control.

[alkemical]

Think about this Con-Job!

WE ARE PAYING, to become INMATES!

[Hotrod]

Originally Posted by Spider

Bastard assed republicans .... hey lets Put Bush in office , we hate clinton cause he got a blow Job , you ****ing republican pricks are a waste of skin ........

That does it Im voting for McCain now

[Spider]

Originally Posted by Hotrod

That does it Im voting for McCain now

so you see the errors of voting conservative

[Hotrod]

Originally Posted by Spider

so you see the errors of voting conservative

Im writing in you & Dave

[Spider]

Originally Posted by Hotrod

Im writing in you & Dave

I will have a job for you if I win ....probably put you in charge of secuirty , snapping rubber bands at tourist

[Hotrod]

Originally Posted by Spider

I will have a job for you if I win ....probably put you in charge of secuirty , snapping rubber bands at tourist

Awesome I hate tourists.

[baja]

You should come to Cabo there aren't any here.

[Spider]

Originally Posted by baja

You should come to Cabo there aren't any here.

I have been to 3 foreign countrys .... Canada , Mexico , Mississippi .....