Free Republic

Biometrics at border crossings huge hurdle for CIA spies By Defense Systems Staff | Apr 12, 2012 The use of iris scanners and biometric passports at airports, hotels and business headquarters around the globe is making it difficult for CIA spies and secret agents in other nations to travel under false identities, reports Jeff Stein at Wired's Danger Room blog. Throughout Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia, governments are using iris scanners at entry points to link travelers' eyeballs to a particular name, the blog says. At the same time, biometric passports, which are embedded with microchips...

U.S. officials said Thursday evening they have "specific, credible but unconfirmed" information about a threat against the United States coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. "We have received credible information very recently about a possible plot directed at the homeland that seems to be focused on New York and Washington, D.C.," a senior administration official told CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr. The official said the plot was believed to involve three individuals, including a U.S. citizen, who may have entered the United States. U.S. officials believed the threat was a vehicle laden with explosives, but...

click on the church channel for schedule. this week presents part 3 of a discussion with mark lerner of the constitutional alliance about real i.d. and biometrics. both agree that the u.s. congress will cancel real i.d. because some states have passed laws against it. a new law of biometrics on drivers licenses will be passed that conforms to international standards. all four parts are available as "could us escape 666?" on a dvd.

Most people go to great lengths to keep others from knowing what's going on inside their pants. But skivvies that relay data about the wearer could benefit some people--say soldiers. Yes, we're talking about tighty whities that talk.

Biometric National ID Cards have been proposed in the new Immigration law going through Congress. All citizens who want to work would be required to carry one.

As of last week, there is now a U.S. Government national security agency called the Biometrics Identity Management Agency (BIMA).  It supersedes a Biometrics Task Force that was established in 2000.Though nominally a component of the Army, the biometrics agency has Defense Department-wide responsibilities.“The Biometrics Identity Management Agency leads Department of Defense activities to prioritize, integrate, and synchronize biometrics technologies and capabilities and to manage the Department of Defense’s authoritative biometrics database to support the National Security Strategy,” according to a March 23 Order (pdf) issued by Army Secretary John M. McHugh that redesignated the previous Biometrics Task Force as...

A school has provoked uproar after taking children's fingerprints without permission from their parents. Pupils were 'frogmarched' to be fingerprinted so they could use touch screens in the canteen to have money deducted from their account, thereby speeding up lunch queues. Capital City Academy in Brent, north London, was later forced to apologise and wiped all prints it obtained before asking for consent. Fingerprint scanner As many as 3,500 schools are using fingerprint technology in administrative tasks such as pupils' borrowing library books or buying canteen lunches It also introduced an opt-out for parents uncomfortable with the technology, allowing pupils...

A new attempt at immigration reform may require a biometric ID card for all working Americans. Privacy advocates aren't pleased National identification cards, long feared by privacy advocates, may soon become mandatory for American workers. In a bipartisan effort to curb the hiring of illegal immigrants, Sens. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have proposed legislation that, if passed, will require all working Americans to carry biometric ID cards containing fingerprint records and other personal information. Sen. Schumer calls the measure "the nub of solving the immigration dilemma." But Chris Calabrese, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer, warns the...

All United States citizens may be required to carry a biometric I.D. card! That's not Orwell's Big Brother speaking. Rather Democrat Chuck Schumer (D- New York), and Republican Lindsay Graham (R- South Carolina) have devised new legislation to mandate that every worker carry a government I.D. card to prove his citizenship. The card must be carried every day and may be checked by employers and any governmental authority upon request. All U.S. citizens would be required to carry an ID cards according to this plan. It's meant to keep companies from hiring illegal immigrants. No matter where you apply for...

The FBI plans to migrate from its IAFIS fingerprint database to a new biometrics system that will include DNA records, 3-D facial imaging, palm prints and voice scans. TAMPA – The Federal Bureau of Investigation is expanding beyond its traditional fingerprint-focused collection practices to develop a new biometrics system that will include DNA records, 3-D facial imaging, palm prints and voice scans, blended to create what's known as "multi-modal biometrics." Slideshow: The changing face of biometricsHow the Defense Department might institutionalize war-time biometrics "The FBI today is announcing a rapid DNA initiative," said Louis Grever, executive assistant director of the...

An implantable chip could allow you to charge purchases or even start your car. It'd be convenient, to be sure. But would it be too creepy? It's a simple concept, really: You inject a miniature radio frequency identifier the size of a grain of rice between your thumb and forefinger and, with a wave of your hand, unlock doors, turn on lights, start your car or pay for your drinks at an ultrachic nightspot.

September 8, 2009 -- VeriChip Corporation (NASDAQ: CHIP) ("VeriChip"), a provider of radio frequency identification (RFID) systems for healthcare and patient-related needs, and Steel Vault Corporation (OTCBB: SVUL) ("Steel Vault"), a premier provider of identity security products and services, announced today that VeriChip has agreed to acquire Steel Vault and form PositiveID Corporation To offer identification tools and technologies for consumers and businesses. In conjunction with the merger, VeriChip plans to change its name to PositiveID and continue to trade on the NASDAQ. PositiveID intends to change its ticker symbol to "PSID" upon closing of the transaction. The formation of...

Senate Democrats outlined plans yesterday to overhaul the nation's immigration laws, including a requirement that all U.S. workers verify their identity through fingerprints or an eye scan.

The folks at Mythbusters can say "I told you so" now that Japanese authorities have found a 51-year old woman slipping in and out of the country by using a piece of tape to defeat fingerprint scanners. The seemingly simple exploit raises questions about expensive border security systems -- and about the usefulness of the biometric data the federal government wants to incorporate into drivers licenses with its controversial Real ID scheme. The unnamed South Korean bar hostess, whose real fingerprints were on file as that of an illegal alien, bypassed her listing in the database with tape supplied by...

Mobile fingerprint scanners plan 27.10.08   Police will be able to check the identities of people in the street using mobile fingerprint scanners.The hand-held devices, no bigger than a BlackBerry smartphone, are being issued to every police force in the UK under a scheme called Mobile Identification At Scene (Midas), according to The Guardian.They will enable officers to scan suspects' fingerprints on the spot and compare them against records on the police national biometric database, Ident1.It is claimed the scanners will save police time and cut the number of wrongful arrests.Currently, officers have to take suspects to custody suites...

In the six-and-a-half years that the U.S. government has been fingerprinting insurgents, detainees and ordinary people in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Horn of Africa, hundreds have turned out to share an unexpected background, FBI and military officials said. They have criminal arrest records in the United States. There was the suspected militant fleeing Somalia who had been arrested on a drug charge in New Jersey. And the man stopped at a checkpoint in Tikrit who claimed to be a dirt farmer but had 11 felony charges in the United States, including assault with a deadly weapon. The records suggest that...

NEW YORK – Two new directives signed by President Bush establish sweeping authority for federal executive departments and agencies to establish a coordinated "framework" to collect and retain biometric data on U.S. citizens identified as "known and suspected terrorists," without requiring public or congressional disclosure of the procedures. Although the directives run over 1,700 words in length, Congress is not mentioned once, nor is there any specification of how the coordinated "framework" will be disclosed to the public. WND contacted the White House press office for comment but received no return call. The directives also do not specify any procedures...

MARTINEZ — Rep. George Miller, an outspoken critic of the Iraq war, has secured $4.6 million in federal funding for a Martinez firm that has earned millions selling equipment to the U.S. Army for use in the war effort and whose executives have contributed to his campaign and political action committees. Miller, a Martinez Democrat, secured $3 million in the 2006 defense appropriations bill and $1.6 million in the 2008 bill for SecuriMetrics, Inc., manufacturer of biometric identification devices that use iris, fingerprint and facial recognition technology. Current and former executives of SecuriMetrics have donated $16,090 to Miller and his...

WASHINGTON, April 24, 2008 – The Iraqi government has expanded its use of biometric identification, a U.S. official in Iraq said yesterday. While the biometric program was procured to screen for identification of the government’s civilian employees, police and army, it has expanded to identify the deceased and screen for previous criminal activity, U.S. Army Lt. Col. John Velliquette Jr., Iraqi biometrics manager for the Coalition Police Assistance Training Team, said in a conference call with online journalists and “bloggers.” “The Iraqis are embracing it and moving it beyond its initial capability of just being a civil verification system,” Velliquette...

Hacktivists collect fingerprint of fingerprint collector A hacker club has published what it says is the fingerprint of Wolfgang Schauble, Germany's interior minister and a staunch supporter of the collection of citizens' unique physical characteristics as a means of preventing terrorism. In the most recent issue of Die Datenschleuder, the Chaos Computer Club printed the image on a plastic foil that leaves fingerprints when it is pressed against biometric readers. No-one from the Germany-based group has been able to test the foil to see if it can fool a computer into believing it came from Schauble. But the technique has...

The first camera in the room grabbed my face, put it on a screen and then began a computer analysis. It correctly identified me as male. Then the camera focused and followed my eyes, with a little box appearing around each one on the screen. Below the image, a meter displayed each emotion that the computer had detected: Happy. Sad. Angry. Surprised. A trace of a smile triggered the happy meter; a raised eyebrow sent the anger meter skyrocketing. Some tic was registered as sadness. A second camera went after solid data from the face. It measured distances from jaw...

he FBI is gearing up to create a massive computer database of people's physical characteristics, all part of an effort the bureau says to better identify criminals and terrorists. But it's an issue that raises major privacy concerns -- what one civil liberties expert says should concern all Americans. The bureau is expected to announce in coming days the awarding of a $1 billion, 10-year contract to help create the database that will compile an array of biometric information -- from palm prints to eye scans. Kimberly Del Greco, the FBI's Biometric Services section chief, said adding to the database...

The FBI is gearing up to create a massive computer database of people's physical characteristics, all part of an effort the bureau says to better identify criminals and terrorists. But it's an issue that raises major privacy concerns -- what one civil liberties expert says should concern all Americans. The bureau is expected to announce in coming days the awarding of a $1 billion, 10-year contract to help create the database that will compile an array of biometric information -- from palm prints to eye scans. Kimberly Del Greco, the FBI's Biometric Services section chief, said adding to the database...

Just heard McCain say he will secure the border and institute a temporary worker program using biometrics Don't these politicians realize that once you institute biometrics for one group eventually everyone gets tagged? What is his position on ReadID?

FBI to collect biometric information on British visitors By Tim Shipman in Washington Last Updated: 3:11pm GMT 22/12/2007 British visitors to the US will have details of their physical characteristics added to a new billion dollar database under plans drawn up by the FBI. Fingerprints, iris scans and even details of the way people walk, their scars and the size and shape of their ear lobes will be collected. British intelligence agencies and police will also be able to access the information – giving them potentially more biometric data on British citizens than the Government collects at home. Under the...

CLARKSBURG, W. Va. -- The FBI is embarking on a $1 billion effort to build the world's largest computer database of peoples' physical characteristics, a project that would give the government unprecedented abilities to identify individuals in the United States and abroad. Digital images of faces, fingerprints and palm patterns are already flowing into FBI systems in a climate-controlled, secure basement here. Next month, the FBI intends to award a 10-year contract that would significantly expand the amount and kinds of biometric information it receives. And in the coming years, law enforcement authorities around the world will be able to...

Biometric Passport Control: No Place To Hide http://www.physorg.com/news109956722.html Siemens is making border crossings in Europe more secure through biometric systems that store individual characteristics such as fingerprints and facial photos on a chip integrated into a passport. The systems have already been installed in several countries. The data is read at a passport checkpoint and compared with a live digital photo of the traveler, thereby making it practically impossible to travel with a false passport. The system software was developed in the Biometrics Center in Graz, Austria. Switzerland introduced biometric passports in September 2006, and Siemens IT Solutions and Services...

The Department of Defense is planning to implant microchips in soldiers' brains for monitoring their health information, and has already awarded a $1.6 million contract to the Center for Bioelectronics, Biosensors and Biochips (C3B) at Clemson University for the development of an implantable "biochip". Soldiers fear that the biochip, about the size of a grain of rice, which measures and relays information on soldiers vital signs 24 hours a day, can be used to put them under surveillance even when they are off duty. But Anthony Guiseppi-Elie, C3B director and Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Bioengineering claims the...

An elementary school in Lancaster [California] plans to use a fingerprint scanner to control the lunch line, it was reported Sunday. The idea is to reduce the delays that occur now when children have to enter their ID numbers on a keypad to buy lunch at El Dorado School. "With kindergartners and first-graders, even students who go away for summer or for break, there are issues of remembering their number," Connie Conrad, director of child nutrition, told the Daily News. "It's a lot easier not to have a crying child, trying to get their name from them." The American Civil...

Welcome to Xmark, the new corporate identity for our healthcare security products. Our new name emphasizes our focus on healthcare security. You may have known us under the eXI or VeriChip brand, but we are now bringing all our products under the Xmark name.

HOHENFELS, Germany — The U.S. military is compiling a biometric database of Iraqis and Afghans that officials say has already borne fruit in the war on terrorism. Many details of the database are classified, but according to Joint Multinational Readiness Center strategic planner Arnie Geisler, who helps train U.S. troops in Germany, it is being compiled by soldiers using equipment that scans an individual’s retina and fingerprints and takes a digital photograph of his or her face. The equipment takes four measurements of each face and converts them into a biometric algorithm, which is stored in the database along with...

Taunton schools to use fingerprints Taunton schools this spring could become the first in Massachusetts to have students pay for lunch by scanning their fingerprints, a plan that is triggering an uproar among parents and ACLU officials worried about privacy and possible identity theft. Under the plan, which is voluntary, schools will scan two fingerprints from each student, which will be converted into an individual number linked to a meal account. When they buy lunch, students will tap their finger on a reader that brings up the account. The cashier will enter the items and deduct the cost. School officials...

Tokyo, Japan, Feb 27, 2007 - (JCN Newswire) - Fujitsu Limited today announced that it has implemented its PalmSecure(TM) biometric palm vein authentication system at the Hospital for Charged Particle Therapy at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS) in Japan, for access of electronic medical records. This is the first such implementation ever of biometric palm vein authentication for electronic medical record access. The innovative system enables users to access electronic medical records through a highly secure and user-friendly log-on procedure, thereby helping to prevent unauthorized access of the hospital's data. The system has been operative since October 2006....

A public iris scanning device has been proposed in a patent from Samoff Labs in New Jersey. The device is able to scan the iris of the eye without the knowledge or consent of the person being scanned. The device uses multiple cameras, and then combines images to create a single scan (see diagram). Iris recognition is a biometric identification system that requires a high-resolution picture of the irides of the subject's eye. Pattern recognition software is then used to match that picture against future iris scans. Iris scans are considered highly accurate; current iris recognition algorithms have an incredibly...

HOME seekers will soon have to show their FINGERPRINTS to take out a mortgage. Banks and building societies will introduce the measure for first-time buyers to clamp down on identity fraud. The shock move comes as the Government prepares plans to introduce its controversial ID cards. Home Secretary John Reid asked lenders what checks they would like for granting a mortgage. They want fingerprint and facial biometrics - which will be included on identity cards. Couples buying their first home will be the first to get the cards when they are introduced in 2009. Eventually everyone will need one. Premier...

WASHINGTON - Homeland Security officials believe it will take five to 10 years to develop the technology needed to implement the exit portion of a border security plan without major disruptions, according to congressional investigators. In a report released Thursday, the Government Accountability Office concluded that the entry portion of the Visitor and Immigration Status Indicator Technology program, known as US-VISIT, has been installed at most of the nation's land borders with minimal disruption. The entry portion of the program includes biometric features such as digital scans of fingerprints to identify foreign visitors to the U.S. Congress required the program...

Hiring a car can now mean leaving a fingerprint. And check-out staff are scanning the customers as well as the shopping. Biometrics are entering every day life. Getting your fingerprints taken would once have meant only one thing. You were helping the police with their inquiries. Now such "biometric" identification is entering the mainstream of every day life. If you want to hire a car at Stansted Airport, you now need to give a fingerprint. The scheme being tested by Essex police and car hire firms, is not voluntary. Every car rental customer must take part. These are stored by...

ROME, Ga. -- The never-ending march of technology now means school children here can pay for their cafeteria sloppy joes with their fingers.Rome City Schools is switching to a scanning system that lets students use their fingerprints to access their accounts. In the past, students had to punch in their pin numbers. "The finger's better because all you've got to do is put your finger in, and you don't have to do the number and get mixed up," said Adrianna Harris, a second grader at Anna K. Davie Elementary School. The new system speeds lunch lines, said city administrators. It's...

ROME, Ga. - The never-ending march of technology now means school children here can pay for their cafeteria sloppy joes with their fingers. Rome City Schools is switching to a scanning system that lets students use their fingerprints to access their accounts. In the past, students had to punch in their pin numbers. "The finger's better because all you've got to do is put your finger in, and you don't have to do the number and get mixed up," said Adrianna Harris, a second grader at Anna K. Davie Elementary School. The new system speeds lunch lines, said city administrators....

Walt Disney World, which bills itself as one of the happiest and most magical places anywhere, also may be one of the most closely watched and secure. And control over park entrances is getting even tighter: the nation's most popular tourist attraction now is beginning to scan visitor fingerprint information. For years, Disney has recorded onto tickets the geometry and shape of visitors’ fingers to prevent ticket fraud or resale, as an alternative to time-consuming photo identification checks. By the end of September, all of the geometry readers at Disney’s four Orlando theme parks, which attract tens of millions of...

Biometric testing is set to be introduced at European airports as part of stringent new security measures revealed yesterday in the wake of last week's alleged terror plot. Passengers would have their fingerprint or iris scanned under the measures proposed by EU interior ministers, which would also use passenger profiling to try to identify potential terrorists. The move to beef up relaxed security procedures in Europe came as John Reid, the Home Secretary, warned human rights would have to be balanced against the threat from terrorism. Other measures agreed in the wake of last week's terror threat include a commitment...

British children, possibly as young as six, will be subjected to compulsory fingerprinting under European Union rules being drawn up in secret. The prints will be stored on a database which could be shared with countries around the world. The prospect has alarmed civil liberties groups who fear it represents a 'sea change' in the state's relationship with children and one that may lead to juveniles being erroneously accused of crimes. Under laws being drawn up behind closed doors by the European Commission's 'Article Six' committee, which is composed of representatives of the European Union's 25 member states, all children...

July 17, 2006 issue - Need to buy milk but forgot your wallet? No worries if you are one of the 2.5 million subscribers who've signed up to use biometric technology by Pay By Touch that links a photocopylike scan of your finger to a bank or credit-card account. Proponents of the tech, which is available in selected grocery stores in 44 states, say it saves time and helps guard against credit-card fraud. "Debit cards were good," says Amer Hawatmeh, owner of Coast to Coast in Tampa, Fla., which just introduced the scans. "But what could be better than your...

TAMPA - Customers can pay with cash, plastic or their index finger at a new Coast to Coast Family Convenience store here. Taking a big step beyond the ease of the Mobil SpeedPass, Coast to Coast has installed what's claimed as Florida's first biometric payment system. There are no cards or PIN numbers to remember. Just stick your finger in the scanner and be on your way. While applications are available to process credit and store loyalty card transactions by fingerprint, this one is limited to processing only debit account transactions. "People either love it or think it's a sign...

AKRON, Ohio _ Futurists promised us wireless telephones. Now we have them. They promised us itty-bitty boxes that store thousands of songs. We have those, too. So whatever came of the idea of going up to an automated teller machine, having it check your fingerprint and drawing out some cash? The answer is that you can, if you live in Chile or Saudi Arabia. But the folks who make ATMs, such as Green-based Diebold Inc., say the idea just isn't working out in the United States. Fingerprints, retinal scanners, iris readers and palm geometry readers all fall into the category...

Please excuse this vanity post. I respect the cumulative expertise on this forum and would value your thoughts on the following. The need to improve security on our borders seems obvious. Less obvious is how best to deal with our existing illegal immigrant population. We don’t really even know how many people are involved, how old they are, how many are in our schools, what other services they are using, how many of them are currently employed, etc. It’s little wonder that Congress is at loggerheads. Shouldn’t Congress first accurately scope the problem and prevent it from growing still larger,...

Here's a question no one has asked since the Dubai ports deal erupted as a major election-year terrorism issue: Whatever happened to biometric identification cards for dockworkers and other transportation-industry employees? Congress mandated them over three years ago in the Maritime Transportation Security Act. They were supposed to start rolling out in 2004. It's now 2006, and the system, now barely a pilot project, might not be ready until late 2007, early 2008 or possibly even later.

INTERNET EXCLUSIVE Scam fear over iris scans By CORINNE ABRAMS Sun OnlineTHE use of iris scans on ID cards could be scuppered by fraudsters using an optician's chemical that makes the iris disappear, an expert has claimed.  Ross Anderson, professor of Security Engineering at the University of Cambridge, revealed that criminals in Dubai used the chemical atropine to make their irises disappear and avoid detection by authorities.Prof Anderson said the biggest deployed experiment for biometric identifiers was in Dubai."What they want to do there is catch Pakistani prostitutes who have already been deported and who are coming in again under new...

...Hoping to block the entry of criminals and terrorists into the United States and to improve the enforcement of immigration laws, government officials have... created enormous new repositories of digitally recorded biometric data including fingerprints and facial characteristics that can be used to identify more than 45 million foreigners. Federal agencies have also assembled data on more than 70 million Americans in an effort to speed law-abiding travelers through checkpoints and to search for domestic terrorists. The immigration control and antiterrorism campaign was spurred by the Sept. 11 attacks and subsequent Congressional mandates to improve the nation's security. But the...

Tommy Thompson Gets Chip Implant Implanted microchips are getting a plug from a heavy hitter - former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson. Thompson plans to promote a product made by his new company � a medical info chip � by having one implanted in his arm. "It doesn't cause any pain," Thompson told Paul Bedard, who writes the Washington Whispers column in U.S. News & World Report. The chip is made by Florida-based VeriChip, which recently added Thompson to its board of directors. The rice-size chip contains a 16-digit identification code that can be scanned at hospitals and...