biometrics
As surely as feudal peasants were chained to their lord and land by culture, poverty, and the occasional census the citizens of a high-tech surveillance state are chained by an ongoing, ad-hoc census – informatics, data mining and tracking in the employ of the state micromanagement corps and their partner corporations. And what better way to keep track of citizens within this control grid than by measurements of their body – no ID required. Now we see the growing spectacle of our global neighbours meekly submitting to thumbscans for banking and access privileges, to facial tracking as increasingly employed at national borders, and to genetic databases compiled on civilian populations in the interests of law enforcement. Yet where does the greater danger lie? With the disorganized criminal element, or the global economic hitmen that have seized control of our governments? We forge our chains anew.
Smoking Guns — Suggested Reading
Australia recording features for facial recognition
Canadians to get biometric, RFID enabled passports in 2011, security experts voice concerns
The government has your baby’s DNA
Incoming CSIS chief to seek biometric data at border
Police will use new device to take fingerprints in street, vendors say face scanning next
Archive (Most recent headlines first)
2010
Now scientists read your mind better than you can | Australia recording features for facial recognition | Biometric cash machine lands in Europe | Ontario police forces seek access to driver’s-licence photos | ‘Vast’ biometric database prompts troops to open fire on vehicle, 4 unarmed Afghans killed | UK: Pupils forced to submit to fingerprint scans for lunch, parents not consulted | Canadians to get biometric, RFID enabled passports in 2011, security experts voice concerns | The dark side of DNA | Mind-reading experiment uses brain scans to eavesdrop on thoughts | UK: Commons committee rejects six-year DNA records plan | Biometric ID Card for all US Workers Is at Center of Immigration Plan | 11 More U.S. Airports Get Body Scanners | Fingerprints Now Required to Shred (That Means Skateboard, Dude) | UK: Mobile fingerprint scanner for English and Welsh police | Research Calls Forensic DNA Technique Into Question | Nose picked by military research for next-gen face scanning, mood analysis | Australia to fingerprint, face-scan visitors from Muslim nations | Exposed: Naked Body Scanner Images Of Film Star Printed, Circulated By Airport Staff | The government has your baby’s DNA | Israeli Scientists Show DNA Evidence Can be Fabricated | Dutch police develop mobile body scans | Whole-body airport scanners are basically safe–or are they? | Mind-reading systems could change air security | Airport security starts in the parking lot | UK: New scanners break child porn laws | UK: Full-body scanners being ordered for airports, says Gordon Brown | Group slams Chertoff on conflict of interest in scanner promotion
2009
Underwear Bomber Renews Calls for ‘Naked Scanners’ | US Move to National ID Cards Delayed | UK: Chipped ID card scheme launched in Greater Manchester | UK Police routinely arresting people to get DNA, inquiry claims | Plant experts unveil DNA barcode | Psychic computer shows your thoughts on screen | Privacy watchdog OKs ‘naked’ airport scanners | US Border Guards to Expand Use of X-Ray Body Scanners | Privacy commissioner OKs Barwatch software | UK national ID card cloned in 12 minutes | Alberta Hutterites need enhanced driver’s licence photos: top court | US: REALID tracking chip ID card resurrected by PASS initiative | India to issue all 1.2 billion citizens with biometric ID cards | UK: Passport details to be kept on ID register despite card U-turn | Incoming CSIS chief to seek biometric data at border | Homeland Security to scan fingerprints of travellers exiting the US | Tories propose law allowing fingerprinting before charges are laid | Clinton defends new border restrictions | UK: New biometric security checks could include brain scans, heart rhythm fingerprinting | Moratorium sought on RFID driver’s licenses | Homeland Security seeks Bladerunner-style lie detector | Researchers use brain scans to read people’s memories | UK security whitepaper urges ‘end of privacy’
2008
Bestiality, suicide questions OK for job applicants, Halifax concludes | Indonesian AIDS patients face microchip monitoring | Halifax thinks again about subjecting applicants to lie-detector tests | UK Home Secretary: People ‘can’t wait’ for biometric ID cards | Parents, children to be fingerprinted at initial 250+ nursery schools in UK | Police will use new device to take fingerprints in street, vendors say face scanning next | Interpol wants facial recognition database to catch suspects | ‘Pre-crime’ detector shows promise | India’s use of brain scans in courts dismays critics | Satellites track Mexico kidnap victims with implanted chips | DNA of ‘blameless’ youths stored | Brain will be battlefield of future, warns US intelligence report | Scots schoolchildren to be fingerprinted in controversial ID scheme | RFID passport security defeated in minutes | UK DNA database turns ‘innocents into criminals’, warns watchdog | Eye scans, fingerprints to control NZ borders | Your turn to speak: Privacy chief seeking input on biometric ID plan | Ontario to issue Biometric ID Cards in Lieu of Standard Photo ID for Non-Drivers | Billboards that look back | US Homeland Security Keen on ‘Novel’ Israeli Airport Security Technology | Tanks, Face-Scanning Cameras Part of ‘Discreet’ 2010 Games Security | Newborn Blood-Storage Law Stirs Fears of DNA Warehouse | Tokyo Vending Machines Learn New Trick: Facial Recognition | Israel startup uses behavioral science to identify terrorists | Man spends 18 hours in police cell and has his DNA taken for ‘dropping an apple core’ | American Border Officers Want to Fingerprint Canadians at SPP Bridge | U.S. to collect DNA at border | Widen DNA dragnet: Police Chief Blair | American Security Czar: Biometric Data Not Private | North American ID card in the works through SPP | Canada working with FBI on ’server in the sky’ | Microsoft is developing Big Brother-style software capable of monitoring workers’ competence and productivity | FBI wants instant access to British, Canadian identity data | Alberta privacy commission to rule on bar scans | Prisoners ‘to be chipped like dogs’ | Microsoft readies Hal 9000
2007
UNBC students give thumbs down to fingerprint scanners
2005
Give public biometrics the finger
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