A 10-year, $1 billion contract is expected to be announced in the coming days. The contract will help to create a new database compiled by the FBI. What will it consist of? Your physical characteristics.
That’s right, from palm prints to eye scans, from tattoos to scars and facial shapes; this biometric information will “keep the terrorists out.” Or so says Kimberly Del Greco, the section chief of the FBI’s Biometric Services.
The database is "important to protect the borders to keep the terrorists out, protect our citizens, our neighbors, our children so they can have good jobs, and have a safe country to live in," she says.
Many are staunchly opposed to the new database, and rightly so.
“It's the beginning of the surveillance society where you can be tracked anywhere, any time and all your movements, and eventually all your activities will be tracked and noted and correlated," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Technology and Liberty Project.
While it might sound like a good idea to some, it’s important to note the key reason for the new database, and similar occurrences of the past. It was after all, in the name of protecting us from terrorists that we entered into the Iraq War on false premises, that our phone and internet activities are monitored, and that many of our rights were virtually erased in the passing of The Patriot Act.
Thomas Bush, the FBI official in charge for fingerprint databases in Clarksburg, West Virginia says that for now, fingerprinting will still be the main tool used within the database. "Whatever the biometric that comes down the road, we need to be able to plug that in and play,” he adds.
First on the agenda are palm prints, which the FBI has already begun collecting. Mug shots and pictures of scars and tattoos are also being collected and stored. Images of people’s eyes, the iris or colored section, may soon be collected as well. Researchers are already testing the new technologies that will be used in the program, known as Next Generation Identification.
The database is not only checked against criminals and terrorists, says the FBI. Over 55 percent of checks are background checks for ordinary people applying for government jobs and other jobs that deal with vulnerable people such as the elderly and children.
Co-director of the research center at West Virginia University says "It allows you to project your identity as being you. And it allows people to avoid identity theft, things of that nature." Last time I checked, identity theft was a matter of social security numbers, credit card theft, account information etc, not facial features and palm prints.
"This had started out being a program to track or identify criminals," Steinhardt said. "Now we're talking about large swaths of the population -- workers, volunteers in youth programs. Eventually, it's going to be everybody."
Even if the new program is based solely on good intentions, it is more than likely it will eventually overstep its boundaries. Putting power into the hands of the few nearly always results in the abuse of it. Thousands of examples are evident if one simply looks at the history books.
In my opinion, this is completely uncalled for. The FBI understands that this system will be unpopular because it blatantly goes against our values of freedom. This is evident in the reasons given to allow it. Once again our government is playing the fear card in order to hack away at our rights. We would be unpatriotic, siding with terrorists to go against such a plan. When a government plays on emotions, specifically fear, in order to rally support for something, it is more than likely be more harmful than helpful.
Secondly, the system is not needed for the stated purposed. According to the Bush Administration, all attempted terrorist attacks following 9/11 have been intercepted and dealt with. Preceding 9/11, it is a well known fact that intelligence had known some specific details of the attack. Why nothing was done is still an open question, but currently beside the point. The fact is our intelligence has been successful in identifying and dealing with terrorism. This says to me either one of two things is occurring. The first is that the successes of our intelligence in regards to terrorism have been false or made up and we are in so much danger we need this program. The second is that this program has nothing to do with terrorism and is in fact for something else, most likely the tracking and surveillance of U.S. citizens. I very much doubt the first reason is the grounds for this program.
So why is the government so intent on compiling this database, an act which goes against the very nature of our supposed free society? The reasons may be far beyond what many imagine.
As Mr. Steinhardt said, “Eventually, it's going to be everybody."
