New FBI Database to Include Photos and Palm Prints - Via Threat Level:

Lockheed Martin has been tapped by the FBI to develop a system for storing and analyzing more biometric markers to augment the fingerprint collection system the agency already maintains. The Next Generation Identification (NGI) system will store photographs and palm prints, according to http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/4270770.html?page=1
">a story in Popular Mechanics, and may even include iris scans.

With regard to photographs, the FBI says this would involve images of distinctive physical markers, such as tattoos and scars, that could help identify a suspect, but an FBI spokesman says the photo database could also become a basis for a facial recognition system and iris scans.

The FBI, anticipating opposition to the plan from privacy advocates, says the database isn't cause for alarm since the agency plans to collect the extra data only from the same people from which they already collect fingerprints.

Lockheed Martin also developed the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS).

(Read Original Article - Via Threat Level.)