NGI
Latest
FBI chiefs want databases exempt from privacy protections
The FBI has hatched a plan to prevent its colossal database of fingerprints and mugshots from falling under the auspices of the Privacy Act. The bureau wants a series of exemptions from the law, including the requirement to tell people, when asked, that they're listed on the system. The feds also want to remove the requirement for people listed on the database to be able to correct any errors in their file. Naturally, the EFF and 44 other privacy groups have protested the move, sending a letter to the Department of Justice asking for an extension on the 21-day consultation period to debate the issue properly.
MasterCard's selfie security: What could possibly go wrong?
When I read about MasterCard's plan to do selfie security with purchases, I wondered what the first massive breach of biometric data is going to look like. Unlike passwords, biometrics such as face mapping, fingerprints and iris scans can't be changed when a database gets popped. Worse, data sold to marketers or snarfed into an authoritarian database isn't revokable. Manny the cat would not approve. Fortunately, MasterCard isn't going to be replacing the password or pin with selfies, but instead wants to make its "Selfie Pay" app part of a two-step security routine when purchases are made or money is withdrawn. MasterCard says users will be required to blink for the app to demonstrate it's a live image. The company plans to roll it out in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and a few European countries by this summer.
Say hello to the FBI's national facial recognition system
If you've ever been arrested in the United States, chances are strong that your fingerprints and criminal history are floating around in the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System. It's apparently pretty good at what it does - it can sift through some 70 million subjects in search of a particular fingerprint in as little as half an hour - but it's just not enough for the boys in blue. Thankfully for them (and maybe unfortunately for us), the FBI just announced that its sequel, the unimaginatively named Next Generation Identification system, is now "fully operational" some three years after the rollout began.
There'll be no escape from the FBI's new facial recognition system
If you thought that the NSA wanted too much personal information, just wait a few months. The EFF is reporting that the FBI's new facial recognition database, containing data for almost a third of the US population, will be ready to launch this summer. Codenamed NGI, the system combines the bureau's 100 million-strong fingerprint database with palm prints, iris scans and mugshots. Naturally, this has alarmed privacy advocates, since it's not just felons whose images are added, but anyone who has supplied a photo ID for a government job or background check. According to the EFF's documents, the system will be capable of adding 55,000 images per day, and could have the facial data for anything up to 52 million people by next year. Let's just hope that no-one tells the Feds about Facebook, or we're all in serious trouble.
FBI to roll out $1 billion public facial recognition system in 2014, will be on to your evildoing everywhere
They're watching you -- or at least will be in a couple of years. That's when the FBI is gearing up for a nationwide launch of a $1 billion project designed to identify people of interest, according to the New Scientist. Dubbed the Next Generation Identification (NGI) program, the high-tech endeavor uses biometric data such as DNA analysis, iris scans and voice identification to track down folks with a criminal history. The FBI also plans to take NGI on the road literally by using public cameras to pick faces from the crowd and cross check them with its national repository of images. Let's just say this facial technology isn't going to be used for lighthearted Japanese vocaloid hijinks or unlocking your electronic device. The use and scope of NGI, which kicked off a pilot program in February, will likely be questioned not just by black helicopter watchers but privacy advocates as well. Facial recognition has certainly been a touchy issue in privacy circles -- something Facebook learned firsthand in Germany. Meanwhile, the Electronic Frontier Foundation is already raising concerns about innocent civilians being mixed up or included in the database. Naturally, the FBI claims that the NGI program is in compliance with the U.S. Privacy Act. On the positive side, at least they didn't name it the Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System.
HiPiHi appoints new CTO
Ex-Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Tokyo-based virtual worlds service firm NGI/3DI, Toshitaka Jiku, has been newly appointed as CTO of Chinese virtual world developer/operator, HiPiHi. Jiku brings quite a bit of experience and education to the table from his time with NGI, and is expected to help HiPiHi position itself and scale to the global market. As you may recall, HiPiHi has already partnered with IBM to collaborate on both massively scalable architecture and long-term interoperability, and seems to have also gained significant buy-in from US chip giant Intel. HiPiHi is on the move, and has their eye on the world stage. It will be interesting to see if this China-based virtual world can pick up broad international appeal.
FBI amassing largest face, fingerprint, palm database in the world
Merry Christmas, American public! Reuters is reporting that FBI is moving ahead with its plan to spend a billion US taxpayer dollars on what it calls the Next Generation Identification system, which it aims to make the largest biometrics cache in the world. Because really, what could possibly go wrong in letting the government collect records of everyone's faces, fingerprints, and palm patterns (what, no retinal scans?) and even collude with private employers to automatically collect and add all the biometric data amassed during potential employees' criminal background checks? Nothing, absolutely nothing. Obviously.P.S. -The only other document on NGI we were able to immediately turn up appears to come from 2006, and it doesn't like the same that Reuters is referring to. [Warning: PDF link]
