5 Things You Should Know About the FBI's Massive New Biometric Database

The FBI claims that their fingerprint database (IAFIS) is the "largest biometric database in the world," containing records for over a hundred million people. But that's nothing compared to the agency's plans for Next Generation Identification (NGI), a massive, billion-dollar upgrade that will hold iris scans, photos searchable with face recognition technology, palm prints, and measures of gait and voice recordings alongside records of fingerprints, scars, and tattoos.

Ambitions for the final product are candidly spelled out in an agency report: "The FBI recognizes a need to collect as much biometric data as possible within information technology systems, and to make this information accessible to all levels of law enforcement, including International agencies." (A stack of documents related to NGI was obtained by the Center for Constitutional Rights and others after a FOIA lawsuit.)

1. Face Recognition
2. Iris Scans
3. Rap-Back System
4. Data Sharing Between Agencies
5. NGI and Secure Communities (S-Comm)

in_his_glory's analysis:
I am sure there will be more of this type of bio-metric stuff to come.