FBI PREPARES VAST DATABASE OF BIOMETRICS

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FBI PREPARES VAST DATABASE OF BIOMETRICS

Sunday, 23 December 2007, 5:00 a.m.

 

The FBI is embarking on a $1 billion effort to build the world's largest

computer database of peoples' physical characteristics, a project that would

give the government unprecedented abilities to identify individuals in the

United States and abroad.

Digital images of faces, fingerprints and palm patterns are already flowing

into FBI systems in a climate-controlled, secure basement here. 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.

*SNIP*

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/21/AR2007122102544_\

pf.html