Fredd

Wait until the TSA gets hold of this handy device:

Sheriff’s departments across Massachusetts are using facial recognition technology to build a database of every suspect they book, an electronic lineup that local police could soon tap remotely with a handheld device attached to a smartphone...

********

...That futuristic capability is enticing law enforcement authorities but worrying privacy rights lawyers who say that technology is outpacing policy that would protect privacy.

A number of questions are unresolved, such as how long the images of suspects will be stored, whether they will be shared with the FBI, and what happens to the images of people who are cleared of charges.

...“There’s simply no good reason, in our view, to create detailed dossiers on every American resident,’’ said Kade Crockford of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. “And increasingly it appears as if all of these surveillance programs and technological programs are doing just that. We want to make sure there are proper protections around these technologies, so they’re not abused.’’

http://www.boston.com/news/local/mas...pped_remotely/

janetdoe

So there is some (I assume federal) anti-terrorism program that compares pictures of terrorists with state driver's license photos... then the state automatically revokes your driver's license and send you a 'cease and desist' letter?!?

If they really think you're a terrorist, wouldn't they want to send, oh, I dunno, maybe the FBI to your house? Instead of tipping you off with a letter?

Charlie: "Hey, when our database identifies a potential terrorist, what should we do?"
Sam: "Well, we certainly don't want them driving on our streets! Let's revoke their license and send them a nasty letter."
Charlie: "Wow Sam, you have the best ideas! I guess that's the reason they pay you the big bucks!"

Words cannot describe the stupidity of whoever implemented this system.

And there has to be some sort of due process issue here. I wonder if EPIC or the ACLU will tackle this?

VegasCableGuy

Ah, nothing quite as fun as the state doing the old Tuttle / Buttle mix-up...

Pesky Monkey

Unless you're a citizen lawfully taking a picture of a TSA rub down. Then it's strictly forbidden.

Always Flyin

Since when?

Pesky Monkey

since:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...ody-parts.html

and

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...ested-mia.html

and

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...ger-cabin.html

and

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...hased-tso.html

Search around for more. Please understand that my post was sarcastic but based on many of our experiences with the TSA and photography.

chollie

Not so much fun when the burden is on the victim to waste time and money dealing with a government bureaucracy predisposed to assume everyone is guilty anyway.

DIFIN

two weeks ago I had a passport photo taken. the tech told me not to smile as the state dept said it messes up the facial recognition program.

KEEP SMILING EVERY ONE

GUWonder

Bumping up a thread on the topic instead of starting a new thread on the topic.

Indeed.

Smiling messes up the FRT program searches, and most countries seem to have an anti-smile policy for passport photos (even as it isn't always applicable or enforced in some such countries).

The DSS at the State Department has a history of using facial recondition technology to identify and weed out fraudulent passport/visa applications and fraudulent passport/visa holders/users.

The USG also has a history of running a dragnet using all the retained current passports' photos to run a search for some wanted criminals.

Here is an example:

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2014...ammer-captured

Always Flyin

Just because some posters have experienced being told photographing a checkpoint is not permitted does not make it so. The TSA specifically states it is permitted. Random experiences to the contrary does not change that.

relangford

With some restrictions, i.e., photos of TSA equipment and devices, AFAIK.

Schmurrr

The FBI is adding driver's license photos to its Next Generation Identification program. The FBI wants to add iris scans, voice prints, and more.

Texas is asking for a complete set of fingerprints (all 10) to get a driver's license. They say it is for fraud prevention, but you only need 1 print for that (and that appears to be what the state legislature told the driver's license agency when the agency tried to implement this a few years ago). I am sure the fingerprints will be fed to the FBI, too. It is quite nauseating to think that innocent drivers' fingerprints will be added to the databases against which prints found at crime scenes are run. How secure are these databases anyway? It would be disastrous if such a database is hacked or compromised by an FBI insider.

The new license plates in Texas are also designed to maximize the chance that license plate scanners will read them correctly. This is also nauseating.

relangford

Texas is also requiring a set of fingerprints for all professional engineers to renew their license. We were told that they would be shared with the FBI. And, we had to pay, IIRC, about $46 for the process (to a national contractor).

Schmurrr

Wow. That is disgusting.

GUWonder

Some airports in Europe and Asia have had FRT running at or around passport control checkpoints even where there is neither general public indication of such nor any request by passport control to take a photo of the passenger.

Camera/video feeds in one country are sometimes swiped or otherwise accessed by some other country/countries and used for FRT in a different country than where the camera/video operates.