NextGenerationIdentification
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FBI's facial recognition system can access 411 million photos
When we first wrote about the FBI's Next Generation Identification (NGI) facial recognition system, we said the agency has access to 70 million photos. Turns out the feds can sift through tons more images than that. The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has discovered that the FBI actually has access to 411.9 million pictures of Americans and foreigners alike, most of whom have no prior criminal records. FACE can look through NGI's collection, as well through biometric databases ran by the DOJ and 16 different states. It can also search the State Department's passport and visa application records for possible matches.
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.
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]
