5 ms·

ICE has spent over $25M on iris scanners in no-bid contracts

48 points by ck2 5mo ago

ck2 5mo ago
When I saw them using Iris scanners in Iraq 20+ years ago, I just knew they were going to start scanning people in the US with them Keep in mind they are using them BEFORE a person is under arrest and even just protestors If they can do that, someday there is going to be exponential resolution advancement where a Flock camera can do it from a distance Imagine being able to walk up to a crowd and just iris scan everyone from a distance, that day is coming, it's just a technical limit for now (instead today they collect BLE and wifi mac addresses on your phones)
- wil421 5mo ago
  We’ve all seen minority report. Some executive somewhere is foaming at the mouth to scan your iris and connect the data broker dots when you walk into a store. I’m sure they’re already fingerprinting your iPhone or scanning your face when you walk into certain places. Some team is probably working on an Iris scanner.
  - vgeek 5mo ago
    Pretty sure this is Sam Altman's Worldcoin's objective?
- NDlurker 5mo ago
  Swap out colored contact lenses frequently. Maybe someone will figure out how to make Rorschach style morphing lenses with thermochromic pigments. Edit: found these after doing some searches on diy contact lenses and thermochromic lenses https://patents.google.com/patent/US20220066236A1/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US20220066236A1/en https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10643561/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10643561/
- sbayg 5mo ago
  I wear my sunglasses at night.
- ex1fm3ta 5mo ago
  they did the same thing in Afghanistan and some scanners were found by the talibans once american soldiers left. Somebody even bought these from ebay and retro-engineered the software to access the data. Edit: Article from New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/27/technology/for-sale-on-ebay-a-military-database-of-fingerprints-and-iris-scans.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/27/technology/for-sale-on-eb...
josefritzishere 5mo ago
No-bid contracts are prohibited by FAR. So that's probably kickbacks.
tokai 5mo ago
Are iris scans valid like fingerprints, where we just hand wave away that it might not be reliable?
- AlotOfReading 5mo ago
  I'm not sure whether they're biologically unique (as fingerprints are not), but the way standard scanners work has both false positive matches and false negatives. NIST maintains benchmarks for biometric errors, which are usually in the tenths of a percent range. I guess you should hope none of your hundreds of thousands of iris neighbors are placed on the list?
dstnn 5mo ago
Didn't the state of NY spend a lot more turning misdemeanors to felonies for Trump and Alvin Bragg? Were supposed to be nerds. We're supposed to be above the politics and just the facts
- ck2 5mo ago
  it is easier to list the few days of his life that he did not commit crimes most now just outright in plain sight as if that makes them okay he's even moved onto outright murders of innocent civilians, kids in illegal wars most corrupt crime-spree in history, there is literally no end to his horrors https://s.yimg.com/os/creatr-uploaded-images/2026-05/fa507720-5ad4-11f1-bc9d-badb9cfae5a4 https://s.yimg.com/os/creatr-uploaded-images/2026-05/fa50772...
ChrisArchitect 5mo ago
[dupe] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48252720 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48252720
pickleglitch 5mo ago
Minority report, anyone? Any tips on how to find the nearest black market eyeball sales person?
insane_dreamer 5mo ago
> The agency awarded a $25 million no-bid contract last week to BI2 Technologies, a company that specializes in iris scanning. Who is behind BI2 and how come they're getting large no-bid contracts with no prior history of gov contracts?

48 points by ck2 5mo ago

ck2 5mo ago

When I saw them using Iris scanners in Iraq 20+ years ago, I just knew they were going to start scanning people in the US with them Keep in mind they are using them BEFORE a person is under arrest and even just protestors If they can do that, someday there is going to be exponential resolution advancement where a Flock camera can do it from a distance Imagine being able to walk up to a crowd and just iris scan everyone from a distance, that day is coming, it's just a technical limit for now (instead today they collect BLE and wifi mac addresses on your phones)

wil421 5mo ago
We’ve all seen minority report. Some executive somewhere is foaming at the mouth to scan your iris and connect the data broker dots when you walk into a store. I’m sure they’re already fingerprinting your iPhone or scanning your face when you walk into certain places. Some team is probably working on an Iris scanner.
- vgeek 5mo ago
  Pretty sure this is Sam Altman's Worldcoin's objective?
NDlurker 5mo ago
Swap out colored contact lenses frequently. Maybe someone will figure out how to make Rorschach style morphing lenses with thermochromic pigments. Edit: found these after doing some searches on diy contact lenses and thermochromic lenses https://patents.google.com/patent/US20220066236A1/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US20220066236A1/en https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10643561/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10643561/
sbayg 5mo ago
I wear my sunglasses at night.
ex1fm3ta 5mo ago
they did the same thing in Afghanistan and some scanners were found by the talibans once american soldiers left. Somebody even bought these from ebay and retro-engineered the software to access the data. Edit: Article from New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/27/technology/for-sale-on-ebay-a-military-database-of-fingerprints-and-iris-scans.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/27/technology/for-sale-on-eb...

josefritzishere 5mo ago

No-bid contracts are prohibited by FAR. So that's probably kickbacks.

tokai 5mo ago

Are iris scans valid like fingerprints, where we just hand wave away that it might not be reliable?

AlotOfReading 5mo ago
I'm not sure whether they're biologically unique (as fingerprints are not), but the way standard scanners work has both false positive matches and false negatives. NIST maintains benchmarks for biometric errors, which are usually in the tenths of a percent range. I guess you should hope none of your hundreds of thousands of iris neighbors are placed on the list?

dstnn 5mo ago

Didn't the state of NY spend a lot more turning misdemeanors to felonies for Trump and Alvin Bragg? Were supposed to be nerds. We're supposed to be above the politics and just the facts

ck2 5mo ago
it is easier to list the few days of his life that he did not commit crimes most now just outright in plain sight as if that makes them okay he's even moved onto outright murders of innocent civilians, kids in illegal wars most corrupt crime-spree in history, there is literally no end to his horrors https://s.yimg.com/os/creatr-uploaded-images/2026-05/fa507720-5ad4-11f1-bc9d-badb9cfae5a4 https://s.yimg.com/os/creatr-uploaded-images/2026-05/fa50772...

ChrisArchitect 5mo ago

[dupe] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48252720 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48252720

pickleglitch 5mo ago

Minority report, anyone? Any tips on how to find the nearest black market eyeball sales person?

insane_dreamer 5mo ago

> The agency awarded a $25 million no-bid contract last week to BI2 Technologies, a company that specializes in iris scanning. Who is behind BI2 and how come they're getting large no-bid contracts with no prior history of gov contracts?