It seems our Earth is moving backwards in time as it’s becoming more like the 1984 presented in Orwell’s well known novel. Along with egregious legislation such as the PATRIOT Act and FISA we now have the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) setting to launch a nationwide facial recognition service:
The FBI by mid-January will activate a nationwide facial recognition service in select states that will allow local police to identify unknown subjects in photos, bureau officials told Nextgov.
The federal government is embarking on a multiyear, $1 billion dollar overhaul of the FBI’s existing fingerprint database to more quickly and accurately identify suspects, partly through applying other biometric markers, such as iris scans and voice recordings.
Often law enforcement authorities will “have a photo of a person and for whatever reason they just don’t know who it is [but they know] this is clearly the missing link to our case,” said Nick Megna, a unit chief at the FBI’s criminal justice information services division. The new facial recognition service can help provide that missing link by retrieving a list of mug shots ranked in order of similarity to the features of the subject in the photo.
While the system is being advertised as a listing of mug shots I wouldn’t be surprised if it contains a far more extensive database of faces. Considering how the FBI considers anybody on the secret watch lists to be a criminal it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if those on the prominent no-fly list are also contained in this database. At the rate the FBI is going they might as well try to get software manufacturers to place backdoors in their software… shit, too late.
While getting my drivers license renewed and getting my photo for my ccw permit I was told not to smile because the photos will be used in the new facial recognition system. I’m pretty sure I have my own dedicated DOD satellite now.
Wow, I’m surprised they were so upfront about why they didn’t want you to smile in the picture.
Either way though I figure if you aren’t on a government watch list you’re simply not living life. Although I’m jealous of your DoD satellite I’m pretty sure I have my own wiretap and federal agent spying on my ever move. At least I hope I have a federal agent tailing me, that way I don’t have to waste my time keeping all of my government required information up to date.
So that’s why a black windowless van is parked out front…I’m a law-abiding citizen minding my own business. Clearly, I must be a major threat to the peace and tranquility of our most benevolent state.
Still, nothing says you’re an important person more than a tasked satellite and Predator drone overhead.
Just remember if you’re important enough to require a personal satellite and drone then you’re hundres of millions of dollars of important. That’s pretty fucking important.