Fingerprinting is so yesterday.
The FBI is reportedly about to implement a nationwide face recognition system that is designed to upgrade the Bureau's fingerprint database and help fight crime. The Next Generation Identification (NGI) program comes at a cost of $1 billion and is scheduled to be operational in 2014.
The basic feature set is to immediately scan mugshots for matches in a database, but the system is also capable of taking pictures of people in a crowd and using them against a database, or using publicly available pictures for scans. In effect, the system is evolutionary of the fingerprint data base held by the FBI today. It would be reasonable to assume that this system will be widely deployed and used even in rather unsuspecting environments of the DOJ's Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), which today relies solely on fingerprints of immigrants.
According to an article published by New Scientists, the algorithm used by the software was able to pick the right person in a mugshot comparison 92 percent of the time. The image pool of the FBI held about 1.6 million images at the time of this evaluation, which happened in 2010.
It is also reasonable to assume that there will be some form of protest against this database and imaging system if the idea expands to public surveillance cameras and eventually targets everyone. As much as someone may argue that the system improves our safety, an omnipresent surveillance is creepy and very reminiscent of George Orwell's 1984.
Yeup, no chance that this will cause any issues....
News flash: This system will be abused.
Now if they connect this technology up to peoples' camera phones, that could be truly scary. Who needs a tinfoil hat when you can wear a prosthetic nose.
Yeup, no chance that this will cause any issues....
That is still 92% more effective than an un-fingerprinted terrorist that we have a photo of
Until they shave/grow a beard or put on glasses, makeup, etc.....
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Yeah, that database is going to get real busy, especially when you add all the foreign travellers coming in every year for holidays / business / blowing up skyscrapers etc
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Funny they announced it on 9/11, just to remind us they are doing something useful
I'm sure if all it took to fool a billion dollar facial recognition software was a liberal application of lipstick or growing a moustache they wouldn't have even announced it
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Tell you what, grow a moustache then rob a post office, then shave it off and see if you can fool the system, I dare ya
They won't shave the beard
News flash: This system will be abused.
Also, where exactly is the Fed gonna get the money to fund this? The BRIC nations are starting to see our t-bills as a bit risky (and worthless) now-a-days. Oh, I got it, QE3! Hurray "stimulus"! Thanks Ben and Keynes!
give me 100$ and i could make some realistic facial appliances that would fool real people, much less a computer.
That's still 24 passengers; enough to cause 'problems' :-(
And the Database is likely to contain mostly US citizens of course.
I don't see middle eastern governments turn over photos; and in the case of their women you'd get only a set of eyes anyway !
Step two, Put silly putty on chin to look like Jay Leno
Step three, Allah Akbar?