Infinite Unknown

- Fingerprint Scans Create Unease For Poor Parents (NPR, Nov 20, 2012):

Some Mississippi parents are learning a new routine when they drop their kids off at day care centers that are taking part in a new pilot program aimed at combating fraud and saving the state money.

Under the program, the state scans parents’ fingerprints to capture biometric information, and that information is turned into a number. Then, at a day care center, parents dropping off or picking up their kids put their fingers on a pad, and a small keyboard records the exact time a child is checked in or out.

But only the parents of kids who receive subsidized child care have to do the scans, and the program is roiling some parents and day care workers.

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Tags: 1984, Barack Obama, Big Brother, Biometrics, Dictatorship, Fingerprints, George Orwell, Government, New World Order, Obama administration, Politics, Society, Surveillance, U.S.

- 14 Incredibly Creepy Surveillance Technologies That Big Brother Will Be Using To Spy On You (The American Dream, July 9, 2012):

Most of us don’t think much about it, but the truth is that people are being watched, tracked and monitored more today than at any other time in human history.  The explosive growth of technology in recent years has given governments, spy agencies and big corporations monitoring tools that the despots and dictators of the past could only dream of.  Previous generations never had to deal with “pre-crime” surveillance cameras that use body language to spot criminals or unmanned drones watching them from far above.  Previous generations would have never even dreamed that street lights and refrigerators might be spying on them.  Many of the incredibly creepy surveillance technologies that you are about to read about are likely to absolutely astound you.  We are rapidly heading toward a world where there will be no such thing as privacy anymore.  Big Brother is becoming all-pervasive, and thousands of new technologies are currently being developed that will make it even easier to spy on you.  The world is changing at a breathtaking pace, and a lot of the changes are definitely not for the better.

The following are 14 incredibly creepy surveillance technologies that Big Brother will be using to watch you…. Continue reading »

Tags: 1984, Barack Obama, Big Brother, Cell Phone, CIA, David Petraeus, Dictatorship, Drones, Fingerprints, George Orwell, Global News, Government, Internet, ISP, Microchip, Military, Mobile Phone, New World Order, Obama administration, Police State, Politics, RFID, Society, Surveillance, Technology, U.S.

See also:

- ‘Checkpoint Of The Future’ Takes Shape At Texas Airport:

After checking their luggage, passengers would identify themselves not with driver’s licenses and paper boarding passes, but by scanning fingerprints or irises to prove they have an electronic ticket.

- IDair’s new fingerprint reader captures prints from 6 meters away (The Huntsville Times, June , 21, 2012):

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — Forget the key card to your office building? Just wave your hand at the door, and you’re in. “You don’t have to stop at a station. Nobody checks your ID. You just walk through,” explains Clemson-educated physicist Joel Burcham of his new Huntsville company called IDair.

IDair makes a machine that Burcham says can photographically capture a fingerprint from as far away as six meters in enough detail to match against a database. Add facial and iris-recognition technology, Burcham said, and you have the basis for a good biometrics system that can control access to any building or room within a building.

Who needs this level of security? “Sooner, rather than later, we’re all going to need it,” Burcham said in a recent interview at his office at Huntsville’s HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology.

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Tags: Fingerprints, Global News, Society, Technology

Roll Call, via Fingerprint bcymet via Flickr

- A Florida School District is Taking Attendance by Scanning Students’ Fingers (POPSCI, Oct. 6, 2011):

Roll call is going high-tech in Washington County, Fla. Rather than the usual name calling and response, students are now checking into class with finger scanning devices. And to keep better track of students from the minute they come under district supervision until they are delivered safely home again, the scanners are now moving from the school building to the school bus.

The systems have been active inside Washington County schools for roughly two months, but since most of the students in the district ride the bus anyhow, officials have decided the best place for the scanners is on the buses themselves. In the next week, a handful of buses will get the scanners. If the system proves worthwhile, all buses will have them by semester’s end.

At $30 per student per year, the system isn’t necessarily cheap. But considering the uptick in attendance (which means more money from the state in many districts) and the inherent increase in accountability and student safety, it may well be worth the cost. And naturally, parents who don’t want their children fingerprinted coming to and from school for whatever reason can opt to have their kids check in with their teachers in a more analog fashion.

[WJHG]

Tags: Biometrics, Children, Fingerprints, Global News, Government, Schools, Society, Surveillance, Technology, U.S.

- Police to carry out on-the-spot fingerprinting in the street even for minor traffic offences (Daily Mail, August 1, 2011):

Police are now armed with a device that can scan fingerprints so they can correctly identify suspects who lie about their details.

In what sounds like something out of George Orwell’s dystopia 1984, suspects can now be finger printed in the street thanks to the new hand-held police gadget.

The mobile identification service scans a print, then checks it by trawling through a national database for the details.

But police insist they do not retain the print afterwards.

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Tags: 1984, Big Brother, Biometrics, Dictatorship, Fascism, Fingerprints, George Orwell, Government, New World Order, Police, Police State, Politics, Society, Surveillance, U.K.

- Fingerprint analysis tech aims to revolutionize drug testing (The Raw Story, July 26, 2011):

A new technology that analyzes the sweat from a person’s fingertips looks to revolutionize the drug testing market, providing on-site results in minutes with a test so advanced it can even detect marijuana intoxication.

Using gold nanoparticles and special antibodies, the tech produced by British firm Intelligent Fingerprinting latches on to metabolites on the fingerprint and turns a specific color depending on which drug byproducts are detected.

While it can be configured to search for drugs like nicotine, methadone and cocaine, it also presents another innovation: helping to determine if someone is actively intoxicated on marijuana.

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Tags: Drugs, Fingerprints, Global News, Gold, Marijuana, Nanoparticles, New World Order, Surveillance, Technology

Don’t miss:

- Police Across The Nation Will Roll Out Face-Recognizing iPhone Tech This Year (POPSCI, July 14, 2011):

YouTube

Demonstrates the use of MORIS – the first of its kind mobile multi-modal biometric recognition device based on the iPhone. It is utilizing iris recognition in addition to face and fingerprint. For more information, please visit: http://www.bi2technologies.com/MORIS

Tags: 1984, Big Brother, Biometrics, Civil liberties, Constitution, Fingerprints, Global News, Government, iPhone, New World Order, Police, Police State, Politics, Privacy, Society, Surveillance, Technology, U.S.

- Amid Privacy Fears, Police Across the Nation Will Roll Out Face-Recognizing iPhone Tech This Year (POPSCI, July 14, 2011):

A controversial piece of facial recognition technology (and a PopSci “Best of What’s New 2010” alum) is rolling out in police stations across the country this fall, and naturally not everyone is happy about it. The Mobile Offender Recognition and Identification System (MORIS) uses an augmented iPhone to snap pictures of faces, scan fingerprints, and even to image irises, and then combs through police databases looking for matching identities. This, understandably, has privacy and civil liberties advocates crying foul.

The MORIS device attaches to the back of an iPhone, adding roughly 1.75 inches to the thickness of the smartphone. Police officers armed with the tool can take a photo of a person’s face from about five feet away, or scan his or her iris from about six inches, and wirelessly beam that data to law enforcement databases elsewhere to look for a match. It can also perform remote fingerprint matching.

Similar biometric technology has been deployed by the U.S. military in places like Iraq and Afghanistan to confirm the identities of civilians entering military safe zones and to search for known insurgents at checkpoints. But rolling it out in the streets of the U.S. has plenty of people concerned with privacy and Constitutional issues.

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Tags: 1984, Big Brother, Biometrics, Civil liberties, Constitution, Fingerprints, Global News, Government, iPhone, New World Order, Police, Police State, Politics, Privacy, Society, Surveillance, Technology, U.S.

See also:

- DHS Portable DNA Analyzer

There are advantages and disadvantages of biometric security measures from both a technical and a social perspective.

As of last week, any person arrested and fingerprinted in California will now undergo an automatic immigration check. Biometric security measures are in widespread use, yet many issues are still debated – including privacy concerns. In this article, we are going to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of biometric security measures from both a technical and a social perspective.

California became the ninth state in which each county has activated Secure Communities, a fingerprint data-sharing program between local law enforcement offices and federal immigration enforcement agencies. Other states with complete activation include Texas, West Virginia, Florida, Arizona, Delaware, Virginia, Wisconsin and New Mexico.

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Tags: Biometrics, California, Fingerprints, Global News, Government, Immigration, New World Order, Police State, Politics, Society, Surveillance, Taxpayers, Technology

Mexico will on Monday become the first country to start using iris scans for identity cards, according to the government.

Iris recognition is increasingly used in airports, controlling access to restricted areas, and prisoner booking and release Photo: GETTY

The documents, which will include the eye’s image as well as fingerprints, a photo and signature, will be 99 per cent reliable, according to Felipe Zamora, who is responsible for legal affairs at the Mexican interior ministry.

“The legal, technical and financial conditions are ready to start the process of issuing this identity document,” Felipe Zamora, responsible for legal affairs at the Mexican Interior Ministry, told journalists Thursday.

Critics, including the National Human Rights Commission, have criticised the system, expressing concern that compiling personal data could violate individual rights.

The move will be introduced gradually, with some 28 million minors taking part in a first two-year stage, due to cost $25 million (£15.6 million).

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Tags: Biometrics, Civil liberties, Civil rights, Fingerprints, Global News, Government, Human Rights, ID card, Iris Scanners, Mexico, New World Order, Politics, Society