Things That Just Piss Me Off

I know everyone is concerned about security and we want the FBI to have the tools they need to fight terrorism but we still have to be careful that they do not go to far. Although privacy is not guaranteed specifically in the Constitution, it is implied, like is the part about search and seizure.

“Next month, the FBI intends to award a 10-year contract that would significantly expand the amount and kinds of biometric information it receives. And in the coming years, law enforcement authorities around the world will be able to rely on iris patterns, face-shape data, scars and perhaps even the unique ways people walk and talk, to solve crimes and identify criminals and terrorists. The FBI will also retain, upon request by employers, the fingerprints of employees who have undergone criminal background checks so the employers can be notified if employees have brushes with the law.”

I agree with the FBI having the ability to use biometrics. I’m reluctant, but biometrics can really help them catch criminals and identify terrorists. However, the retention of fingerprints so they can notify employers if a person has a brush with the law is going overboard.

As an employer, I do like to know who is working for me. If I employed a terrorist by mistake, I would definitely want to know that. But I do not believe that I have the right to know if one of my employees was questioned about a crime let’s say. That would be a brush with the law. Should I have the right to know that? I don’t think so. If they are convicted of a crime, yes, I should know that. But a conviction notwithstanding, this is an invasion of privacy.

“It’s going to be an essential component of tracking,” said Barry Steinhardt, director of the Technology and Liberty Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. “It’s enabling the Always On Surveillance Society.”

Are we willing to accept Big Brother to feel a little safer?

Soon, the server at CJIS headquarters will also compare palm prints and, eventually, iris images and face-shape data such as the shape of an earlobe. If all goes as planned, a police officer making a traffic stop or a border agent at an airport could run a 10-fingerprint check on a suspect and within seconds know if the person is on a database of the most wanted criminals and terrorists. An analyst could take palm prints lifted from a crime scene and run them against the expanded database. Intelligence agents could exchange biometric information worldwide.

This sounds good. Again, I just think we should be very careful about the amount of surveillance we allow on US citizens.

More than 55 percent of the search requests now are made for background checks on civilians in sensitive positions in the federal government, and jobs that involve children and the elderly, Bush said. Currently those prints are destroyed or returned when the checks are completed. But the FBI is planning a “rap-back” service, under which employers could ask the FBI to keep employees’ fingerprints in the database, subject to state privacy laws, so that if that employees are ever arrested or charged with a crime, the employers would be notified.

That is the part I take exception to. being arrested does not equal conviction. We are to be assumed innocent until proven guilty. This would and likely will lead to someone being falsely accused of a crime and losing their job as a result. Losing your job means you likely won’t be able to afford an attorney and will have to settle for a public defender. So the disparity of justice for the rich and for the poor would be even wider.

The FBI intends to make both criminal and civilian data available to authorized users, officials said.

It’s that civilian data being available that bothers me. The biometrics are not very accurate yet and they are proceeding anyway. False positives on facial or Iris recognition would lead to the detainment of innocent people by police.

In addition to that, there are many people who can spoof or fake a lot of things. Bar codes have been spoofed. Credit Card Magnetic Strips have been counterfeited.

The information, such as your Iris or Face, or even your earlobe are all biometrics and stored digitally.

If someone spoofs your credit card, you can get a new credit card. If someone digitally spoofs your Iris digitally and commits a crime, what happens then? Let’s say you are found innocent. You still can’t just be issued a new eyeball.

We should be very careful in giving more and more power to our government to use surveillance on US Citizens and we should move slowly in that area to be sure that flaws and false positives are at a minimum before it can be used on US Citizens.

Using it against a known terrorist database, yes, move on it right away. Just take it slow when using it on US Citizens. That’s my opinion anyway.