The FBI's Biometric Database: Is Your Face Already in It?
by www.SixWise.com
It's the stuff science fiction movies are made of: A massive
database that holds the one-of-a-kind biological data to identify
anyone in the world instantly, and it's coming to the United
States by 2013.
|
Technology is underway that could one day capture a
scan of your iris or your face from 15 feet or 200 yards
away, respectively.
|
The FBI is planning to spend $1 billion to create the world's
largest computer database of biometric information, which
includes physical characteristics such as fingerprints, palm
patterns, iris images, facial images, scars, and even patterns
of how people walk and talk.
The system, called Next Generation Identification, is intended
to collect information for identification and forensic purposes.
Although the FBI maintains that terrorists
and criminal suspects will be the ones targeted, privacy
advocates say the database could abuse
your civil liberties.
The Size of Two Football Fields
Currently, an underground FBI facility that spans the length
of two football fields holds an FBI server that receives identification
requests at a rate of about one every second.
Digital fingerprints can be compared against the 55 million
sets already in the database. Soon, however, palm prints,
iris images, and face-shape data will also be comparable.
While most people would have no problem with such data being
used to track down terrorists or other criminals, there is
one caveat.
More than 55 percent of current identification requests come
not for forensic purposes but to conduct background checks
on civilians in government jobs, or among people working with
children and the elderly.
Right now, the fingerprints taken for such requests are destroyed
once the check is complete. Under the new system, an employer
would have a choice to keep the employee's biometric data
on file, and be notified if the person ever commits a crime.
|
If you have to undergo a background check for your
employer, the FBI may one day hold on to your fingerprints
and palm patterns so they can notify your employer if
you commit a crime.
|
Meanwhile, according to the Washington Post, researchers
from the West Virginia University Center for Identification
Technology Research (CITeR) are developing technology that
could capture your iris images from 15 feet away, and your
facial image from 200 yards away.
So your personal information may one day be contained in
the system without your ever knowing it was taken.
Though the technology will take a few years to perfect, the
FBI is very interested in using such techniques to covertly
capture biometric data.
"You Can't Just Get a New Eyeball"
The other concern has to do with security. Computer systems
are notorious for getting broken into, and there is no telling
what chaos could result if a malicious person got a hold of
your personal biometric data.
"Unlike say, a credit card number, biometric data is
forever," said Paul Saffo, a Silicon Valley technology
forecaster in the Washington Post. "If someone steals
and spoofs your iris image, you can't just get a new eyeball."
Concerns have also been raised that the technology is progressing
before any studies have shown it to be effective. One study
on current face-recognition technology found it had a 60 percent
success rate when the lighting was right, and only a 10-20
percent success rate at night.
Nonetheless, the FBI is proceeding full-speed ahead with
the billion-dollar project.
As Thomas E. Bush III, assistant director of the FBI's Criminal
Justice Information Services Division, told the Washington
Post, "Bigger. Faster. Better. That's the bottom line."
Recommended Reading
Proposed
National Database Sparks Privacy Controversy
The
Sky-Drone: Is This Eye in the Sky the Future of Crime-Fighting?
Sources
WashingtonPost.com
December 22, 2007
The
Register December 24, 2007