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December 2, 2008 11:54:22 AM CST

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FBI Plans Huge Biometric Index

Posted Dec 22, 07 12:29 PM CST in Arts & Living,  Technology 

(Newser) – The FBI is planning a $1 billion database of “biometric” information—face shapes, iris scans, palm patterns, and even gait patterns—to enhance investigations, the Washington Post reports. Critics fear that the plan, called Next Generation Identification, will further erode individual privacy as the body becomes a de facto identification card: "It's enabling the Always On Surveillance Society,” said an ACLU director.

Others say the technology is prone to errors. A Berlin study found that sensors picked scanned faces out of a crowd 60% of the time in daylight hours, but only 10-20% at night. The FBI, which will share the data with US and Canadian law enforcement, said the technology improves when techniques such as iris and palm scans are merged. "Bigger. Faster. Better. That's the bottom line," an FBI assistant director said.

Source Washington Post

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A man uses an iris recognition scanner during the Biometrics 2004 exhibition and conference October 14, 2004 in London. (Photo by Ian Waldie/Getty Images)   (Getty Images)
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A womans face is reflected as she has her iris scanned by a camera on May 6, 2004 in London, England. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)   (Getty Images)
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FBI • privacy • Berlin • law enforcement • identity card • fingerprinting • Big Brother • biometrics


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