FBI wants palm prints eye scans, tattoo mapping

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/02/04/fbi.biometrics/index.html


This is a real hot button issue right now; the FBI is expected to get 1 billion dollars towards collecting data on people and surveillance and putting into a databank. This is a 10-year contract that the FBI is going to have with this company. The FBI will be able to information in the databanks such as palm prints and eye scans. The FBI already has fingerprints of a lot of people in a databank, and has mug shots and tattoo scans but the technology there has been completely perfected.

I think this is just wrong pretty soon they will have a picture of everybody (if they don’t already and be able to put a name with a face to everyone. I'm a criminal justice major and I want to become forensic scientist and work in the State crime lab someday so I happen to know a little bit about the reasoning behind this sure it will help catch more people solve more cold cases, but don’t we already have enough we have hair, DNA, bodily fluids, blood, fingernail clippings, tool marks, an arson investigation team, blood and now they want to take everyone and get there eye scans and more the guy in charge of the F.B.I. said that more biometrics will be in a databank as soon as the technology comes what’s next everyone’s height and weight.

There is a great quote by Benjamin Franklin that has something to the effect as if we put our safety in front of our rights we will have neither safety or rights. I whole heartily agree. This is not right

I definitely agree that the government is getting way over its head with this, there is a line of that privacy, but wouldn't they have that information anyway with doctor records and such?
I mean as long as it has to do with a specific case and not the whole country of every trace of you-then yeah I could understand that.
I know that as far as what I've heard in topics of even changing our governmental system since it's way past overdue. I guess it's from the old ways and we should somehow update it? Even with teaching at schools and etc.
Yet security has upgraded since 9/11, some times I think they could be overdoing it. So I totally agree with ya.

I don’t like the idea of all my personal information being kept in some database. It’s great that the government is trying to improve ways of keeping us safe, but how much personal information do they really need? I don’t ever plan on committing a crime so in a way I couldn’t care less how much the government knows about me, but it just seems like there’s a lot of things that could go bad if the wrong person got their hands on all that info.
Another thought that’s sort of the same subject.. I couldn’t believe the first time I got online at mapquest.com and saw the real-life birdseye view of my house. It was crazy! I’ve always wanted to have a fence around my backyard that was tall enough so nobody could see over it, and I could just walk around naked if I wanted to. But soon you’ll have to worry about random people being able to see in your backyard whenever they want!!
Pretty soon there just won’t be any privacy at all….

After reading the overview I defiantly felt that the government is going way over board with this security issue. Especially sense there are still many mistakes with information already obtained. Yet, after reading the article, it does say at the very bottom it would only be collected from criminals and those who are seeking sensitive jobs. Which in that case I guess it would be a pretty good thing. I just feel like it is going to go beyond that. Where is the line really going to be drawn? One argument for the new technology was that it would prevent identity theft, which I didn’t really understand. Unless, somehow, we were all scanned every time we used a credit card or whatever else that should required identification. Except at that point we would all be treated like criminals. It is hard to determine where to draw the line, which is obvious because one still has yet to be drawn.