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The N.S.A. collects iris scans of foreigners through other means. No way that ordinary snapshots have enough resolution for iris scans. What "other means" coul
by panarky 12y ago
The N.S.A. collects iris scans of foreigners through other means.
No way that ordinary snapshots have enough resolution for iris scans. What "other means" could there be?
- jambo 12y agoAll non-citizens are photographed & fingerprinted by cbp when entering the US. Maybe that?
- lawnchair_larry 12y agoNo they aren't.
- DanBC 12y agoWhich ones aren't fingerprinted and photographed? http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/US-VISIT http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/US-VISIT > The U.S. government states that the purpose of US-VISIT is to advance the security of both the United States and worldwide travel, through the use and sharing of biometric information for identity management. U.S. Department of State consular officers and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers collect biometric information (digital fingerprints and a photograph) from all non-U.S. citizens between the ages of 14 and 79, with some exceptions, when they apply for visas or arrive at major U.S. ports of entry.[4] There are "some exceptions", and it doesn't cover people under 14 or over 79.
- mpyne 12y agoThe U.S. military has long been conducting biometric scanning in Afghanistan, as it was very successful in Iraq in helping identify insurgents and terrorists [1] I would assume this is a major source, possibly along with the attempts to gain covert access to other nations' similar counter-terrorism biometric databases. [1] http://www.wired.com/2010/09/afghan-biometric-dragnet-could-snag-millions/ http://www.wired.com/2010/09/afghan-biometric-dragnet-could-...
- sitkack 12y agoI remember listening to an interview of soldiers who had to iris scans of all the people we killed in Fallujah. 500+ corpses piled in rows, remove the sheet, scan biometrics, next. Not sure exactly what the point was.
- tomschlick 12y agoTo see if they killed any known insurgents / high value targets. If they can mark them off the list then they can focus on getting the other ones / people that fill their empty position.
- e12e 12y agoIt's interesting, that by forcing/coercing/recruiting a single individual (say a patrol leader in Afghanistan) you can insert false information (say DNA, fingerprint and iris scan) into the database, so that when you drop your poor ignorant doppelgänger dead in a back alley in some country rife with civil war you can be taken off the list of targets...
- angersock 12y agoAre suggesting that a multi-million dollar program can be defeated by a three-cent bullet and the will to do the deplorable? Surely you jest--I suppose next you'll be asserting that you can cause billions of dollars of economic damage using only some box cutters!
- MichaelGG 12y agoPerhaps not general shots on Instagram, but a larger face picture might have a 80x80 pixel area on one eye. Not enough for a real iris scan maybe, but quite possibly enough to identity an individual? And as high-DPI screens get more common, ordinary snapshots online will probably move up from the low resolutions they are now.
- A_COMPUTER 12y agoThe Army: "Army Reveals Afghan Biometric ID Plan" http://www.wired.com/2010/09/afghan-biometric-dragnet-could-snag-millions/ http://www.wired.com/2010/09/afghan-biometric-dragnet-could-... "Could Iris Scans Stop a New Iraq Insurgency?" http://www.wired.com/2008/08/maliki-vs-sois/ http://www.wired.com/2008/08/maliki-vs-sois/ And probably by infiltrating other countries' iris-scanning of undesirables like refugees: http://jordantimes.com/iris-scanning-technology-streamlines-refugee-registration-process----unhcr http://jordantimes.com/iris-scanning-technology-streamlines-...
- samstave 12y agoHow well do cosmetic contact lenses defend against this? Start wearing them as a matter of course.
- 001sky 12y agoReading these stories it seems the rationale is "lazy bureaucrats". Clearly where this ends up is putting all poor people into a "system" which ultimate serves the blind will of the faceless bureaucrats running it. The pretext is that this power is used to "help" the poor, but ultimately it will be used simple to keep the faceless people in power--come hell or high-water.Iris scanning refugees is basically akin to iris scanning for food stamps. Truly the banality of evil.
- eli 12y agoPart of US-VISIT perhaps?
- truncate 12y agoMaybe, hacking other country databases. Some countries like India have started a voluntary identification number (like social security number) program where they take all these biometrics. That would be too aggressive to be practical though.
- serf 12y ago> too aggressive to be practical I'm pretty sure that's one of the only requirements for an NSA project.
- nitrogen 12y agoI've heard second hand information about commercially available iris (not retina) scanners that can acquire 50 irises per minute from a rather large distance.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- jacquesm 12y agoAmazing that stuff like that does not lead to mass walk-outs or strikes.
- nitrogen 12y agoA lot of technology I've had the opportunity to explore has made me uneasy with regard to privacy, so I have opted not to use it with my home automation systems. Surely there must be a subgroup of the population that cares enough to make a market of privacy-respecting electronics.