Mobile Biometrics to Hit US Streets

Despite fuzzy legality, US law enforcement will soon be able to perform mobile iris scans and fingerprinting.

We're fast approaching a time when law enforcement will no longer need to ask you for your identification - your physical self, and the biometric data therein, are all that will be required to identify you.

With new mobile gadgetry, suspects will no longer have to be taken to police stations for their fingerprints and irises to be scanned and recorded (GALLO/GETTY) A gadget attached to a mobile phone can photograph and plot key points and features on your face (breaking the numbers down into biometric data), scan your iris and take your fingerprints on the spot.

This gizmo doesn't exist in a futuristic world - it's already been prototyped and tested. By autumn, the Mobile Offender Recognition and Information System (MORIS), which will allow 40 law enforcement agencies across the US to carry out such biometric diagnostics, will be rolled out. So far, the 1,000 units on order - at $3,000 and 12.5 oz per device - will be going to sheriff and police departments.

Proponents of the technology figure the deployment is a plus - having biometric data available almost instantly might prevent an officer from mistakenly identifying someone (via, say, a driver's license, which could be forged) and unnecessarily hauling them in for processing.

Looming legal questions

The Fourth Amendment, while prohibiting unreasonable searches and seizures, does not define what a "reasonable" search might be.

The Supreme Court, however, has ruled that warrants are not required for all searches, depending on the level of probable cause and the expectation of privacy - by the target of the search as well as by society - in what is being searched.

As Laurence Tribe, professor of constitutional law at Harvard, puts it: "The law determining what makes a search 'reasonable' or 'unreasonable' is enormously complex." It's difficult to determine if "the application of the relevant principles might be affected by any of the specific characteristics of this particular kind of search and by whether it is administered in a way that gives the person being subjected to it clear notice that the person's iris is being scanned by an identity-detecting device"

(Source)



Is that George Orwell I hear rolling over in his grave? We can't really trust identification anymore, so we're going to need to go ahead and do the equivellent of finger printing you, which is usually only reserved for someone that gets arrested. Because it's biometrics, it's okay though, nothing to worry about! After they tag us, they'll eventually bag us.

Who is going to control these databases full of juicy bio-info? Will it be the same ones who claim they need to scan us for our own good, and protect us from ourselves? It appears that we are now guilty until proven...guilty.

Welcome to the story line from Minority Report.



Looks like art imitates life and sometime life imitates art.

Well, if you were doing anything against the law in the past, now is a good time to straighten up and live by the rules.



Up to the reader to to choose the context of that statement.

Can they do this without pulling you over?

"They" have probably been doing this for years...

Fn unbelievable.........Someone needs to make a biometric virus and blocker.....

Yup, MORIS is on it's way. Will offer full facial scans as well.

Originally posted by v1rtu0s0

The Fourth Amendment, while prohibiting unreasonable searches and seizures, does not define what a "reasonable" search might be.

It shouldn't have to. Reasonable searches and seizures are those that have been warranted by just law. Of course this law was unjust.

It's very unfortunate that we have to elaborate on the definition of words.

reply to post by v1rtu0s0


Time to start making some fake eye contacts or wear sunglasses

Originally posted by SpaDe_
Welcome to the story line from Minority Report.

Looks like art imitates life and sometime life imitates art.

For all the times I've gone to my optometrist to get my eyes tested... how do I know that he/she hasn't already passed along information to the authorities for their data banks??? I don't. Same goes for my doctor. I'm pretty sure that if I disappeared tomorrow... that the authorities would have already collected enough information on me to identify me through DNA testing if I turned up elsewhere... as I've always believed that they've been collecting on the sly for years anyway.

Originally posted by mustangill
reply to post by v1rtu0s0

 

Time to start making some fake eye contacts or wear sunglasses

Careful now, you'll end up on a watch list and you'll be targeted on the streets for saying such things.

I can see how these mobile scanners could be good, but at the same time I can see how they'll be bad too. It's a sad day when you have to worry about this stuff when going down the sidewalk, or out side your house. And, actually while we're at it, sitting on your couch watching tv.

reply to post by Mapkar


I dont care, I live in America, land of the free. When I have to start being scare of what I say in my own country then thats when things have gotten way out of hand.

P.S. Were you just exaggerating? lol

Seriously, tho, I do catch myself watching what I say and that is bad. I was born a free human, was I not? Where the heck did my freedom go where I have now seen a glimpse of what it feels like to live in a less than free country. One where I am now getting told to watch what I say else I will be black listed or red listed and watched. What happens next. They gonna come put a band around my arm?

reply to post by mustangill


I'm with you on the freedom of speech thing. It sucks to think that in the USA we have to be careful not to criticize the government.

To answer your question, I was only slightly exaggerating, I doubt they'll drag a retinal scanner into your house to scan you from the couch. Of course, if it's portable enough, who's to say they might not give it a try?

the police in the UK allready have mobile finger scanning devices and are used regually for this sole reason,
you pull over a car with a male who has a 8th of weed now that can be delt with at the roadside by a caution if the offender doesnt have any previous for drug offences, but you need there name and address and each time the officer asks they tell a different story or it doesnt match up instead of takeing them all the way to the police station and then spending hours there processing them they can do it very quickly and easly on the streets. at the end of the day if you havent got anything to hide why are you against it??

reply to post by djpigz


That attitude is fine, as long as you trust the police to operate lawfully and respectfully in all matters. People with sense, who have payed attention to history however, will challenge that the police have enough power already , and that it is only corrupt control freaks in government and law enforcement who would even CONSIDER such an Orwellian methodology as this.

But make your bed and lie in it by all means, I hear concentration camps and jackboots are really in style this year.

reply to post by shushu


either you are a paranoid schizophrenic or incredibly vain.

you should straight up ask your optomitrist if he is sending your eye info to the feds, no no, say dhs,lol

i bet his resposne would be terrific

reply to post by vermonster


Here is paranoid for ya. Do you remember all those shots that you "HAD" to take as a child? What if I told you that within one of those shots was a tracking device, what would you say to that? And every human in the USA is listed in a catalog under a number that is assigned to them when the list of shots comes in to them from the doctors. Wow, would that make for a good read? I actually have started writing this book but then I discovered that, DAMN, the government really is doing all this stuff!

reply to post by mustangill


that device is in your cell phone, along with a device that can explode whenever 'they' want.

big macs too

Originally posted by boncho
Well, if you were doing anything against the law in the past, now is a good time to straighten up and live by the rules.

Up to the reader to to choose the context of that statement.

When everythings against the law, then it's a safe bet you're doing something against it.

www.alternet.org...

These things are frightening to say the least, and are getting small enough to attach to a police officer's cell phone.

The Department of Justice is expanding its fingerprint database to include iris scans, photos searchable with face recognition technology, scars, tattoos, and measures of voice and gait. The DoD collects iris scans, prints and face recognition photos from anyone coming in and out of Afghanistan; Department of Homeland Security gathers face recognition photos and fingerprints from people entering the U.S. Even motor vehicle departments in many states use face recognition technology to ID people when they get their licenses, and they tend to be cooperative with criminal investigations. The big agencies are also increasingly making their databases interoperable, so an immigrant's print that lands in the DHS database (IDENT) can be accessed by the FBI. Information is also shared with foreign governments and private companies.

Data sharing is good in some cases, but this is illegal search and seizure in every sense of the word.

Law abiding citizens can have their pasts pulled up for no reason whatsoever.