The Informant

Elec-Intro

Last Spring, the Federal Bureau of Investigation began the roll-out of a nationwide biometric identification system for suspects, a billion-dollar overhaul of how the Bureau identifies and tracks suspects. The first aspect of the Lockeed-Martin-designed system to be unveiled was a new fingerprinting database for law enforcement.

The most recent portion of NGIS, however, has more in common with Facebook and Google Image search than traditional law enforcement identification methods.

The photo-recognition component of the Next-Generation Identification System is currently being implemented and will be available nationwide in January. According to an FBI document unearthed by the open-source website Public Intelligence, a beta version of NGIS’ photo-recognition component was introduced to law enforcement agencies in Flordia, Hawai’i, Michigan, North Carolina and Washington. The database currently holds 7.5 million mug shots from local, state and federal authorities, and is intended to allow law enforcement to match photos of unknown suspects to images of people in interconnected law enforcement databases.

Civil libertarians have long raised concerns about government usages of facial recognition software, and NGIS is no exception. Sunita Patel, a staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, told the website Nextgov.com that NGIS is bound to have errors that could lead to innocent people being mistaken for a criminal suspect.

“Any database of personal identity information is bound to have mistakes. And with the most personal immutable traits like our facial features and fingerprints, the public can’t afford a mistake,” Patel said. “The federal government is using local cops to create a massive surveillance system.”

http://www.scribd.com/doc/68251796