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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?pag...
">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.)
Fingerprints recovered from bullets after firing - Via Science | guardian.co.uk :
Scientists have developed a technique for retrieving fingerprints from bullet casings and bomb fragments after they have been fired or detonated. The new method, which relies on subtle corrosion of metal surfaces is already being applied for the first time anywhere in the world by two British police forces.
The patterns of corrosion remain even after the surface has been cleaned, heated to 600C or even painted over. This means that traces of fingerprints stay on the metal long after the residue from a person's finger has gone.
"All other conventional techniques that the police anywhere in the world would use require some kind of either physical or chemical interaction with the fingerprint residue. So for example if you are using powder the powder sticks to the tackiness in the sweat," said Dr John Bond of the University of Leicester and the Scientific Support Unit of Northamptonshire Police. Instead, the technique he has developed relies on permanent physical changes to the metal. read more »
More coverage! - Via CFP: Technology Policy '08:
And as before, if you're blogging about CFP -- or if you see other coverage -- please add it to the wiki. Thanks!
Daily Kos: Another victory for the anti-Real ID rebels - Via ACLU's diary in Daily Kos:
By Larry Frankel, State Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office
The anti-Real ID movement just took a big step forward, with the Arizona Senate’s 21-7 vote to bar implementation of Real ID in Arizona. The bill (H.B. 2677) still has to go back to the Arizona House for another vote and then on to Governor Janet Napolitano for her signature. But as of this writing, Arizona is poised to join the growing number of states who have recognized that Real ID is an expensive and unworkable invasion of our privacy.
The good work of a bipartisan group of Arizona legislators contrasts with what happened last week in Minnesota. Governor Tim Pawlenty vetoed a transportation bill that passed the Minnesota legislature with overwhelming bipartisan support because the members of the Minnesota legislature had the audacity to say no to the federal Real ID Act. The governor’s veto message reads like a set of talking points from the Department of Homeland Security. read more »
ACLU Testifies before Senate against Real ID - Via ACLU - Privacy:
WASHINGTON – Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office testified today about the privacy and security concerns with creating a federal identity document every American will need in order to fly on commercial airlines, enter government buildings, or open a bank account. The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia held an oversight hearing on the Real ID Act and the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, examining the federal government’s capacity to implement the new identification systems. read more »
'Outrageous' REAL ID affront to Americans' privacy concerns ( by Mark Sanford, the Republican governor of South Carolina ) - Via The Post and Courier of Charleston, SC :
If I were a betting man, I'd wager that most people haven't followed the debate on REAL ID. If you indeed missed it, I would ask that you take the time to learn about what I consider the most troubling piece of legislation I've seen come from Washington since I've been governor.
REAL ID would surreptitiously require all fifty states to change their driver's licenses to act as de-facto national ID cards. It's outrageous, and not just because it was a back door way of doing something proponents in Washington have never been able to pull off in the past.
I say "outrageous" because REAL ID was never really debated in Congress because the cost of its implementation is handed down to states and individuals, and because it is an affront to Americans' privacy concerns.
Let's look more closely at a few of those concerns: read more »
Chertoff’s Defense of REAL ID is “Dead Wrong” - Via CDT - PolicyBeta:
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has a hard job. Among other things, it’s his responsibility to make sure that our country isn’t attacked by terrorists and that undocumented immigrants don’t cross our borders. So it’s understandable when he vociferously defends his Department’s efforts at “protecting the homeland.” But it’s inexcusable when the guy is simply factually (and vociferously) wrong on an important policy issue.
On April 2, Chertoff, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee during a hearing on DHS oversight, had the gall to say that public interests groups have been putting out “misinformation” and are “dead wrong” about the privacy and civil liberties risks of REAL ID. Yet it was the Secretary who put out misinformation and was dead wrong about the risk of the wrong people gaining access to personal information stored in the REAL ID card’s “machine-readable zone” (MRZ). read more »
CDT Corrects the Record About Security of Personal Data on REAL ID Cards - Via Center for Democracy and Technology:
Today CDT sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee highlighting Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff’s recent testimony in which he wrongly asserted that the personal information stored on REAL ID cards will be safe from unauthorized access, and accused privacy advocates of spreading “misinformation.” In fact, the REAL ID Act and regulations mandate that Americans’ personal data be stored in an unsecured barcode, which can be easily scanned with widely available readers.
# CDT REAL ID Letter to Senate Judiciary Committee [PDF] April 08, 2008
(Read Original Article - Via Center for Democracy and Technology.)
DHS Issues Maine Ultimatum on Real ID - Via Threat Level:
Editor: Interesting graphic removed. Go to original site for that [...]
Maine has until Wednesday to agree to driver's licenses changes demanded by the federal government or face the consequences of having Maine driver's licenses rejected as valid identification at the nation's airports come May 11.
DHS all but told the state Monday that it was the country's "weakest link" and that the state needed to change its licensing ways or face the fed's wrath.
Maine is now the lone state not to have been given an extension to long-delayed Real ID regulations, after three fellow protesting states -- Montana, New Hampshire and South Carolina -- got their extensions in the last two weeks despite not pledging allegiance to Real ID.
In January, Maine became the first state to vote not to comply with the federal government's Real ID rules, which aim to create a de facto national identification card by imposing federal standards, linking state driver's license databases and limiting services available to persons who do not have such an ID card. read more »
Hackers Publish German Minister's Fingerprint - Via Threat Level:
To demonstrate why using fingerprints to secure passports is a bad idea, the German hacker group Chaos Computer Club has published what it says is the fingerprint of Wolfgang Schauble, Germany's interior minister.
According to CCC, the print of Schauble's index finger was lifted from a water glass that he used during a panel discussion that he participated in last year at a German university. CCC published the print on a piece of plastic inside 4,000 copies of its magazine Die Datenschleuder that readers can use to impersonate the minister to biometric readers.
Several years ago the CCC published a guide to lifting and reproducing fingerprints. read more »
South Carolina Stands Firm Against DHS and Real ID - Via ACLU - Privacy:
Gov. Mark Sanford cites problems with failed program, refuses to participate
WASHINGTON - The governor of South Carolina today issued a blistering critique of the Department of Homeland Security's national identification program, Real ID. The state is facing a DHS-imposed deadline to request that their drivers' licenses and ID cards continue to be accepted for federal purposes. South Carolina was one of seven states that passed legislation prohibiting participation in the Real ID program, yet five of those states have already been granted waivers on the statutory deadline. read more »
DHS Backs Off Again in Real ID Showdown - Via ACLU Blog - Privacy & Technology:
Last week, Montana Attorney General Mike McGrath sent a letter (PDF) to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff that touted the super security features on the state's drivers' licenses, and said that state residents should not be barred from boarding planes or entering federal buildings, as DHS has threatened, if the state doesn’t comply with the Real ID Act.
Was McGrath's letter in some strange foreign language that Chertoff didn't understand? No, but that didn't stop DHS from interpreting the letter as a request for an extension of the state's compliance with the Real ID act, even though the state passed a statute last year that said it would never comply with Real ID. read more »
New Hampshire Joins Montana in Real ID Victory - Via Threat Level:
Détente has arrived in the fight between independence-minded states and a federal bureaucracy keen to claim a unanimous victory in its drive to create a de facto national identity database.
The key? The renegade states send a nice letter that is not a request for an extension of a looming deadline but touts the security of their driver's licenses, which the Department of Homeland Security accepts as an official extension request. That lets DHS save face, even as it backs down from repeated threats to punish the citizens of rogue states. read more »
Terrorists Can be VIPs Too! - Via ACLU Blog - Privacy & Technology:
The federal government has given Americans few reasons to trust it lately. From warrantless wiretapping to the surreptitious establishment of Total Information Awareness, the government is doing everything it can to keep a close eye on its citizens; it's no coincidence that a retinal scan is part of this effort.
Today The Washington Post reported on the nascent success of the Clear Card program, a TSA-approved system to get frequent, moneyed travelers to fork over $128, lots of personal data like passport number and citizenship status, their fingerprints and a scan of their retinas to breeze past certain airport security checkpoints.
Between government overreaching and government bumbling, giving the government's contractor in this scheme, Verified Identity Pass (VIP, get it?), all of this highly personal data and trusting they won't sell you out to the highest bidder is an act of faith in every sense. read more »
Computers, Freedom, Privacy - and Policy - Via EFF: Deep Links:
For the first time, U.S. technology policy has taken a front-row seat in this election year. If you had the candidates' ear, what would you tell them to do in regards to our digital world?
Computers, Freedom and Privacy (CFP) is a conference whose interests have tracked those of EFF for almost a decade. This year, the 18th annual CFP will focus on what constitutes technology policy — and organizers are asking for your help. Read on to find out how to contribute to the debate, and how to travel and attend for free if you are a tech or public policy journalist. read more »
Three National Privacy Experts to Address Arizona Legislators on Privacy Issues Related to REAL ID, RFID Tags - Via ACLU - Privacy:
PHOENIX – Three nationally-recognized privacy experts will be in Phoenix on Thursday, March 13 to speak to legislators and members of the public about the privacy implications of everything from REAL ID and national identity cards to radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and enhanced driver’s licenses.
Katherine Albrecht, RFID and Consumer Privacy Expert, Jim Harper, Director of Information Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, and Noam Biale, Advocacy Coordinator for the National ACLU Technology and Liberty Program, will address legislators at 9 a.m. Thursday, March 13 during the Public Safety and Human Services Committee hearing at the Ari
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