The FBI is building the world’s largest computer database of peoples’ physical characteristics, a project that would give the government unprecedented abilities to identify individuals in the United States and beyond.
At the West Virginia University Center for Identification Technology Research (CITeR), 45 minutes north of the FBI’s biometric facility in Clarksburg, researchers are working on capturing images of people’s irises at distances up to 15 feet, and of faces from as far away as 200 yards. Those researchers will be doing biometric research for the FBI.
Next Generation Identification
The Next Generation database is intended to “fuse” fingerprint, face, iris and palm matching capabilities by 2013.
American Civil Liberties Union concerned, according to Barry Steinhardt, Director of the Technology and Liberty Project of the American Civil Liberties Union:
“It’s going to be an essential component of tracking. It’s enabling the Always On Surveillance Society.”
Source:
FBI Prepares Vast Database Of Biometrics Washington Post
More information:
Federal Bureau of Investigation/ Criminal Justice Information Services (FBI – CJIS)
See Also:
CJIS Group