The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been putting a lot of effort into their biometrics programs over the last few years. They have already implemented mobile biometrics that connects to their Repository for Individuals of Special Concern (RISC) to identify and link individuals on the spot. They also have a sweeping facial recognition program that ties in with a comprehensive database of citizen information. This database works for their Next Generation Identification (NGI) program, which is also linked to the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS). Most recently, the FBI has augmented their searchable fingerprinting database to merge the print records of criminals and civilians, and is planning to update their facial recognition database with new photos that they will take while they are out on the streets. These moves to improve their biometrics programs are being done away from the media’s keen eye because of the privacy pickle that it creates.
Now Everyone Goes into the NGI Database
It used to be that only criminals and those arrested as criminal suspects would get their fingerprints and other biometric data stored in the FBI’s databases. Now, the FBI is going to throw everyone into its NGI database. This is the Next Generation Identification program – to have everyone searchable regardless of their backgrounds. This is a huge change in the bureau, yet the public heard nothing about it from the media. There is a write-up on the FBI website, but no announcement was made via the media. We think that a lot of people are going to have a problem with this new method of lumping bio data together and this is why the FBI wanted to keep things quiet.
Why does everybody who has their fingerprints taken have to be added to a database previously reserved for criminals and suspects? The FBI wants to be able to track people wherever they go around the country. Are Americans not entitled to go where they want without having the FBI spying on their every move? The FBI also seems to think that it needs to search through everyone and not only known offenders when something goes wrong. This is against the fundamental US democratic principle of being considered innocent until proven guilty. It also exponentially increases the chances that innocent people are going to get in trouble over nothing because of false matches in the database.
Anyone who has gone through background checks for work or license processing will have their biometric data filed away forever along with those fingerprinted for criminal offenses. The bureau and other law enforcement agencies will then be able to search the database at any time. The FBI used to only take biometric data on individuals so that they could do background checks for employment and certification purposes, and they rarely used to keep any of the data if it was on non-criminals. Now everyone who is required to submit to a background check will be catalogued and searchable together. This includes all licensed professionals and federal workers as well as people who deal with such agencies as the Department of Social Services.
Collecting Photos for the NGI Database
NGI is a program that focuses on collecting as much biometric data as possible on everyone in the country. And they are not only going after fingerprints but material that they can use for facial recognition as well. Remember the article we did on this last month where police in San Diego swabbed and took pictures of innocent men? Well, you can bet that Eric Hanson and Aaron Harvey are now in the NGI database. With background checks being the standard for employment and police going around taking the biometrics of everyone they encounter, it won’t take long at all for the FBI to fill their database.
To help things along, the FBI is preparing to expand in the field of mobile biometrics. They are currently looking for Android apps that can take photos that are compatible with their facial recognition systems. The same apps would ideally also be able to take an instant set of fingerprints of anyone they encounter. All of this data will then of course be added to the NGI database. If the FBI succeeds in going fully mobile, they will be able to file a very large number of citizens in a very short time.
The FBI did not consider using mobile biometrics until recently because they have always been focused only on using these systems on the criminal scene. Now, however, they are interested in probing everyone to find out if anyone among us has ties to terrorist suspects at home and elsewhere in the world. The program expansion is suspected to be linked with the RISC database, which contains the data of people such as known terrorists and suspects in grave crimes. Again, innocents face the risk of being wrongly connected to a terrorist and added to the list of Individuals of Special Concern.
Originally, the RISC was a database that the FBI had in case they needed to do a search for a suspect when time was of the essence. Mobile biometrics would of course help greatly in reducing the time that it takes to identify a possible suspect. But they are enhancing their mobile capabilities far beyond this critical purpose. The FBI claims that it will not send officers out into the field to gather up biometric data for the NGI database, but the mobile biometrics program will in fact allow them to do just that as they investigate various incidents. The request for quotations (RFQ) that they submitted specifically for mobile expansion asks for software that can take photos and fingerprints that are not done during arrests or booking procedures. This is clearly allowing them to populate their Repository. This is a massive undercover project to gather up and file everyone’s photos and fingerprints so that the bureau can create profiles of who everyone in the United States associates with.